Throughout modern history, addictions, in particular alcoholism, have been used to stigmatise “inferior” classes or  people(s), including indigenous populations, and to discredit their social and national aspirations; currently this stigma still continues to exist, covering addicts as well as addiction treatment, and leads to serious health inequalities across social classes, peoples and countries.

Key words: addictions, health inequalities, stigma, social justice, discrimination

Lead author(s): Moskalewicz

Cocaine, amphetamines and heroin are perceived by European citizens as the ‘addictions’ with the most severe consequences to society, whereas tobacco, despite being responsible for the largest share of premature deaths caused by addictive substances, is perceived as having one of the least severe impacts on society.

Key words: addictions, severity, popular perceptions, addictiveness

Lead author(s): Blomqvist

The role and prominence of user groups as stakeholders in European drug policy processes varies greatly, but are generally difficult to fit into existing analytical research frameworks.

Key words: stakeholders, drug policy processes, drug users, analysing voices

Lead author(s): Bjerge

Toxicological analyses find that alcohol is the most dangerous out of 10 commonly used illegal and legal drugs.

Key words: Toxicology, Ranking drugs, MOE, margin of exposure, alcohol

Lead author(s): Lachenmeier & Rehm

Although evidence supporting young people’s addictions policies is accumulating, the field is underdeveloped compared to adult orientated actions. Currently, for many areas of concern it is difficult to make strong evidence based recommendations to EU policy makers on effective policy actions for young people.

Key words: Young People, Policy options, evaluation framework, addiction

Lead author(s): Brotherhood & Sumnall