Since the discovery of the HIV virus among British drug users at the end of 1985, two major reports on AIDS and drug misuse have been issued and large sums of money have been directed at development of drug services. More than 100 needle exchanges offering new for used syringes is the most tangible public expression of new developments, underlining the view that the danger of the spread of AIDS from drug users into the general population is a greater threat to the nation's health than the danger of drug misuse itself. This paper attempts to answer several major questions regarding British drug policy in the post-AIDS era: (1) How far has drug policy been radically changed? (2) How far has AIDS been simply a vehicle whereby developments inherent in existing policy have been more rapid than they might otherwise have been? (3) How much is really new? and (4) How far do recent changes merely exemplify some very long-standing themes and tensions in British drug policy? Notes