• This guidance focuses particularly on crack cocaine, because it has the potential to cause the most serious problems for the individual, families and the community at large.
• This guidance is aimed at all primary care workers.
• It is important that GPs and other primary care practitioners have a working knowledge of the problems faced by crack users, while at the same time not working in isolation or outside their level of competence.
• This guidance is underpinned as far as possible by the published clinical evidence base. Where there is none, it draws on the experience of users and of staff working in the field. Users have an important role in building up the evidence base for effective interventions, as they are often very knowledgeable.