Studies of epidemiological patterns describe available research on nonaddictive opiate use and examine pertinent evidence for the 'maturation' hypothesis, which maintains that a significant number of drug abusers evolve into a more conventional lifestyle. The paper dealing with the history of legal controls focuses on California's initial opium regulation, with the enactment of a benchmark penal sanction being attributed to an interaction of political, social, and economic forces. A state-of-the-knowledge summary on drug-related crime critically examines data in an effort to provide answers for fundamental research and social policy questions. One of the few reported major empirical analyses of drug arrest data is presented to portray drug enforcement practices, and studies of sociological issues describe the social deviancy attributed to drug users and the basic policy values associated with prohibition. The effectiveness of the prohibitionist approach is examined in two other papers. Considerations in sentencing the drug offender, the argument against long-term addiction treatment in prison, and the philosophy and practices of drug offender diversion are the topics considered under correctional policies. Articles on treatment present arguments favoring new philosophical approaches to treatment, with a central focus on the influence of social values on therapeutic practices. Essays on prevention strategies discuss the concept of prevention and its limitations and the future of drug abuse prevention. Forty-eight listings for 'further reading' are provided.