Author: Transform Drug Policy Foundation

The growing costs of the war on drugs – particularly for the worst affected producer and transit countries – have now reached a crisis point that is driving an increasingly high-level and mainstream debate on drug policy and law reform. But while there is a growing consensus that current approaches to drug control have been ineffective or actively counterproductive, there is less agreement on how these shortcomings should be addressed.

Full title: Consequences and behaviour problematised: The establishment of alcohol misuse as an object of empirical inquiry in late 18th- and early 19th-century European medicine

Author: Ruuska Arto (University of Helsinki)

In his article, Arto Ruuska discusses European medical thought on alcohol in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Earlier historiography has identified the era as the starting point of individualising disease concept of alcohol addiction. Ruuska argues that the era’s proper legacy is rather the establishment of alcohol-related phenomena as objects of empirical inquiry, and – contrary to the claims made in the historiography of the ‘disease concept of addiction’ – the articulation of socio-cultural embeddedness of alcohol-related pathologies.

Full title: Problem drinking, gambling and eating – three problems, one understanding? A qualitative comparison between French and Finnish social workers

Author: Michael Egerer (University of Helsinki)

Michael Egerer compares Finnish and French social workers’ perceptions of problem drinking, gambling and eating. Based on qualitative analysis of focus-group interviews, he shows how the traditional way to handle addictions, the institutional context of the professionals and the country-specific value climate create a particular understanding of the three problems with gambling diverting most.

Author: European Union

The new EU drug strategy for 2013–20 was adopted on 7 December 2012.  The framework, aim and objectives of the Strategy will serve as a basis for two consecutive four-year EU Drugs Action plans. The strategy directs and requires collective EU action in international forums, such as the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the UN General Assembly, and the strategy will have an important role in EC funding priorities. The strategy sets out the need for evaluation of outcomes achieved in supply side enforcement as well as demand reduction. “Risk and harm reduction” is a notable feature of the strategy and the strategy has a focus on HIV, HCV, and overdose. The strategy has more emphasis on human rights than the previous strategy and seeks to encourage civil society participation in policy, including the involvement of young people and people who use drugs.

Authors: Roger E Thomas, Julie McLellan and Rafael Perera

The primary aim of this review was to determine whether school smoking interventions prevent youth from starting smoking and also which interventions were most effective. This included evaluating the effects of theoretical approaches; additional booster sessions; programme deliverers; gender effects; and multifocal interventions versus those focused solely on smoking.