Authors: Sunita Bava, Joanna Jacobus, Rachel E. Thayer (San Diego Healthcare System) and Susan F. Tapert (University of Colorado Boulder)

The influence of repeated substance use during adolescent neurodevelopment remains unclear as there have been few prospective investigations. The aims of this study were to identify longitudinal changes in fiber tract integrity associated with alcohol- and marijuana-use severity over the course of 1.5 years.

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.

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: Dimiter Toshkov (Leiden University)

Policy-making is embedded in politics, but an increasing number of issues, like obesity, tobacco control, or road safety, do not map well on the major dimensions of political conflict. This article analyzes the enactment of restrictions on smoking in bars and restaurants in 29 European countries – a conflictual issue which does not fit easily traditional party ideologies. Indeed, the comparative empirical analyses demonstrate that government ideological positions are not associated with the strictness and the timing of adoption of the smoking bans. On the other hand, economic factors like the scale of tobacco production in a country, smoking prevalence in society and public support for tough anti-smoking policy are all significantly related to the time it takes for a country to adopt smoking bans, and to the comprehensiveness and enforcement of these restrictions.

Authors: University of Stirling, Alcohol Health Alliance UK and British Liver Trust

‘Health First: An evidence-based alcohol strategy for the UK’ sets out for the first time a series of no-nonsense recommendations to tackle the harm caused by excess drinking across the UK. It calls for the UK Government to prioritise Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP), amongst a set of key policies aimed at curbing the nation's drink problem. The strategy was developed by a group of experts independent from government and the alcohol industry under the auspices of the Alcohol Health Alliance.
Although the strategy was developed for the UK, it contains evidence and policy arguments which will be of interest to all researchers, advocates and policymakers across Europe who are seeking to address the harms of alcohol.