The money Italian users spend on cocaine gets split very roughly into thirds: about one-third remains in the hands of the retailers who sell directly to users, one third going to the higher-level dealers within Italy, and one-third flowing out of the country and to international traffickers.

Key words: retailers, drug dealing, profit, international traffic

Lead author(s): Pardal, Tzvetkova, Disley

The way in which General practitioners’ view problem gambling is shaped by both the country-specific approaches to problems in general and the predominant welfare culture.

Key words: problem gambling, health professionals, views, welfare culture, professional approaches

Lead author(s): Egerer, Hellman

In recent decades, European countries have witnessed a process of withdrawing addictions from their political context in the media and public discourse. Social determinants of addictions were replaced by specific individual causes. Decreased authority of political and institutional actors made a room for individual experiences and experts representing mostly biomedical sciences.

Key words: addiction, public portrayal, media, individualization, knowledge sources

Lead author(s): Bujalski

Limited research evidence exists on the determinants of transitions from high-risk to low-risk substance use and gambling that occur without clinical or psychotherapeutic intervention; however, evidence supports that a key driver of transitions from harmful to low-risk substance use or gambling is life changes in the user, for example getting a job, getting married and having children.

Key words: determinants, reduction, life changes, harmful behaviours

Lead author(s): Gell, McLeod, Bühringer, Meier, Lingford-Hughes, Holmes, Forberger

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