This study investigated the popular images of nine different addictions in five European countries (Poland, Norway, Germany, Finland, and Sweden). 

Risk assessment of illicit drugs has often been based on historial attribution, emotive reasoning or educated guesses. This research, as part of WP4 Classification of addictions, aims for a comparative risk assessment of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, based on a toxicological methodology.

This report focuses on the determinants of reductions in or cessation of harmful use of substances and gambling, where harm may be a direct result of a behaviour or a consequence of societal reactions to that behaviour. Determinants identified are wide ranging and include availability, economic conditions, gender, personality traits, neurological changes, media campaigns, social identity and social networks.

The reduction of harmful substance use and gambling does not refer only to cessation, but also changes in patterns of use and the environment of use that result in a reduction in harmful outcomes to the individual, friends and family, and wider society. Within this work we have examined the determinants of such changes with a focus towards non-formal treatment.

This report also presents methodologically updated transition probabilities and hazard ratios for the transitions between different stages of alcohol use, calculted with reference to the different covariates age, gender and socioeconomic status.

In this study we analyse a number of current major trends in drug and gambling policy in the EU. The focus is on identifying important factors that influence policy decision making and policy implementation.