James Griffith Edwards CBE (3 October 1928 – 13 September 2012) was a British psychiatrist.
Edwards was born on 3 October 1928 in
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
and received his M.D. from
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
. His research focused on the study and treatment of alcohol and other drug dependence and related aspects of
addictions
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
. He was a major international figure influencing the development of the discipline of alcohol and drug studies, and promoted rigorous scientific and clinical standards in approaching the broader aspects of these problems.
He was director of the Medical Research Council-funded Addiction Research Unit from 1968 until his retirement from King's College London. He also established the UK National Addiction Centre in London and was its first Chair and Director. His 25 years of service as Editor-in-Chief of the journal ''
Addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
'' transformed it from a small British journal to the most widely-read and cited substance use-related journal in the world. In 1971 he delivered the
Edwin Stevens Lecture
The Edwin Stevens Lecture, also known as the Edwin Stevens Lecture for the Laity or Stevens Lecture, are a series of lectures founded and named for Arthur Edwin Stevens in 1970. Stevens was a successful entrepreneur and member of the library sect ...
. Among the many prizes he received in his career was the E.M. Jellinek Memorial Award in 1979 for his research on alcohol use disorders, and, being made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(CBE) in 1987 for his services to social science and medicine.
Edwards wrote extensively on policy aspects of alcohol and other drug problems and promoted a balanced public health population-based approached to the tackling of alcohol and other drug problems. He wrote the original description of alcohol dependence and the terminology of dependence has become the global term adopted in international disease classification systems including the DSM and ICD classifications.
Edwards published a wide range of original scientific studies on alcohol and other drugs and also wrote several popular science books including ''Alcohol, The Worlds Favourite Drug'', ''Matters of Substance: Drugs'', and ''Why Everyone is a User''. He also sole-authored in 1982 the first edition of the influential book ''The Treatment of Drinking Problems'' and contributed as an author, co-author, and ultimately advisor to its subsequent editions over the ensuing decades. After his death, the authors of the sixth edition, Keith Humphreys an Anne Lingford-Hughes renamed the book in his honour a ''Edwards' Treatment of Drinking Problems''
Research and community development projects
Professor Edwards combined a career of developing research and knowledge on aspects of alcohol and drug problems with the promotion of community based actions. He supported the development of a broad structured response to alcohol and other drug problems, including appropriate and high quality medical and psychiatric services for such problems. Edwards conducted research and supported the development of new approaches to those who are homeless and also people in prison with alcohol problems. He was instrumental in supporting the establishment of the first Therapeutic Community for treatment of Drug Dependence,
Phoenix House
Phoenix House is a nonprofit drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization operating in ten states with 150 programs. Programs serve individuals, families, and communities affected by substance abuse and dependency.
History
Phoenix House was ...
. In addition, he supported the development of community drug agencies in the late 1960s and was involved in the early work piloting community-based services for alcohol problems.
Along with Lady Ann Parkinson, he supported the founding of a charity originally called Action on Addiction in 1989. (This charity later merged with The Chemical Dependency Centre and Clouds House) to form a new larger charity, now also called
Action on Addiction
Action on Addiction is a UK-based charity that works with people affected by drug and alcohol addiction. It works in the areas of research, prevention, treatment, aftercare, as well as professional education and family support.Alcohol Policy and the Public Good ' and Drug Policy and the Public Good ', both of which supported evidence-informed, humane, and balanced public policy towards addictive legal and illegal substances.
Bibliography
*Edwards, Griffith. ''Alcohol: The World's Favorite Drug''. NY: St. Martin's Press, 2000.
*Edwards, Griffith. ''The Treatment Of Drinking Problems: A Guide For The Helping Professions'' (1st edition). London: Grant McIntyre, 1982.
*Edwards, G. and Gross, M.M. (1976) Alcohol dependence: provisional description of a clinical syndrome. British Medical Journal 1, 1058–1061.
*Stockwell, T., Hodgson R., Edwards, G., Taylor, C. and Rankin, H (1979) The development of a questionnaire to measure severity of alcohol dependence. British Journal of Addiction 74, 79–87.
*Edwards, G. (1982) Cannabis: the question of psychiatric morbidity. In Report of the Expert Group on the Effects of Cannabis Use, pp. 40–47. London, Home Office.
*Edwards G., Brown, D., Oppenheimer, E., Sheehan, M., Taylor, C. and Duckitt, A. (1988) Long-term outcome for patients with drinking problems: the search for predictors. British Journal of Addiction 83, 917–927.
*Edwards, G., Anderson, P., Babor, T.F., Casswell, S., Ferrence, R., Giesbrecht, N., Godfrey, C., Holder, H.D., Lemmens, P., Mäkelä, K., Midanik, L.T., Norström, T., Österberg, E., Romelsjö, A., Room, R., Simpura, J. & Skog, O-J (1994) Alcohol Policy and the Public Good. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Translation into Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish: translation of short version into Italian and Hebrew.