Treating Drinkers and Drug Users in the Community. Tom Waller & Daphne Rumball. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, £36.50, pb, 457 pp. ISBN: 0632035757

It seems strange to realise that managing drug and alcohol misuse in the community is a relatively new phenomenon. Not that many decades ago most treatment would involve a long hospital stay for detoxification, followed by an even longer period of in-patient rehabilitation. The move to community management has been possible owing to the involvement of general practitioners who, although slow coming forward, now occupy an important place alongside psychiatrists in the management of drug and alcohol misuse.

When I was dipping my toe into the world of drug misuse, Tom Waller was already a major player in the field of primary care. He provided care to people with drug problems, not just as medical adviser to the City Road crisis hostel but also in his general practice. Many fledging general practitioners such as myself turned to one of the only textbooks specifically addressing the management of drug misuse in primary care - Drug Misuse: A Practical Handbook for GPs by Banks & Waller. For many years their book was one of the few to describe the management of drug use within the community. Over the years many have followed, the latest being the excellent book Treating Drinkers and Drug Users in the Community by Daphne Rumball, an addiction specialist, and the late Tom Waller.

The book describes the treatment options for substance misuse - focusing on psychosocial interventions, many of which can be carried out in a community and indeed primary care setting. The evidence in support of the treatments is well presented and the book is superbly referenced, acting as a valuable resource for further study. The book is well written and is accessible to professionals and the general public. It goes without saying that this book will provide an invaluable source of information. Moreover, it is a scholarly text and is extremely well written. Sadly, Tom died last year and will not see how useful this book will be to professionals working in the field of substance misuse. I strongly recommend this book and hope that in time it will become a classic.