Drug research in the 1960's in Britain was in the context of a contest between a liberationist idealism that emphasized freedom for behavioral experimentation and a disciplinary empiricism that focused on the avoidance of behaviors that resulted in empirically proven social and personal harms. These contrasting influences produced a tempered permissiveness regarding drug use. The research of the 1970's focused on drug use epidemilogy, etiology, demand reduction, and social integration. In the 1980's there have been five main strands in British drug policy: stopping the problem at the source, increased emphasis on law enforcement, user counseling, localization of responsibility to address the drug problem, and concern over the connection between the spread of AIDS and intravenous drug use. In discussing areas where British research has been weak, the article discusses construction of the policy agenda, AIDS in prisons, and drug distribution. 26 references.