Author: Alex Mold

Since 1971, when President Richard Nixon made illegal drugs public enemy number one, the USA has spent vast sums waging war on drugs. Over 45 million people have been arrested, and there are now more people in US prisons for non-violent drug offences than were imprisoned for all crimes in 1970. The USA incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world, with a current prison population of some 2·3 million, and more than half of those in federal prison are there because of drug offences.

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.

Authors: Susanne Uusitalo (University of Turku), Mikko Salmela (University of Helsinki) and Janne Nikkinen (University of Helsinki)

Susanne Uusitalo, Mikko Salmela and Janne Nikkinen provide a philosophical critique of the disease concept addiction and its influential rival, the rational choice model. Instead they propose what they call an ‘affective choice model’ as an alternative to both.

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.

Author: Pekka Sulkunen (University of Helsinki)

In the introduction to the thematic issue Pekka Sulkunen argues for the relevance of integrating the social sciences into the addiction debate. He proposes the concept of 'geography' to overcome the difficulties in using 'national cultures' as a point of reference in comparative studies not only in the addiction field.