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Public health
The intersection of substance use with broader public health concerns.
Afghanistan National Drug Use Survey 2015
This five year survey is a global model for its rigor – the only national prevalence survey that I know of in the world where questionnaires were combined with 100% toxicology testing of three biological samples per person (hair, urine...
Alcohol Abuse Interventions in Primary Care Settings
A recent review of studies focusing on excessive drinkers identified and counselled in primary care settings has found that, when combined with screenings and assessments, brief, regular intervention sessions lead to greater reductions in...
Is There a Biological Link Between Anti-Depressants and the Effects of Alcohol on the Body?
The ‘self-medication hypothesis’ is commonly known to refer to a human behaviour which sees people with depression turn to alcohol as a way of coping. New research published in the journal Nature Communications has now discovered a...
Marijuana and Maternity: What Are the Effects?
Four US states currently allow r
ecreational marijuana use and twenty-four allow medical marijuana. However, little research has been carried out to uncover the drug’s effect on the development of human embryos if smoked or consumed in...
Opioid Abuse Linked to Heroin Use
New research published in the journal Addictive Behaviors has found the likelihood of 18- to 34-year-old nonmedical prescription opioid users having a prescription opioid use disorder has increased between 2002 – 2014. More specifically...
Identifying At-Risk Personalities
A new substance abuse prevention programme called Preventure uses personality tests to identify children most at risk of indulging in harmful drug-taking behaviour. The traits it has identified amongst at-risk children include: sensation...
Are Smoking Bans Having the Desired Effect?
A new study carried out by researchers at Ohio State University and subsequently published in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour shows how smoking bans in the United States have led to a decrease in social or light smoking amongst...
Applications Are Now Open for Research Innovation Grants
Alcohol Research UK is now accepting applications for the Research Innovation Grants 2016/17 programme. The focus of this year's programme is treatment and recovery today. The alcohol services sector and approaches to both treatment and...
Adolescence, Alcoholism and Interventions
Substance abuse entails a whole host of social, physical and mental health problems. A recent overview published in the Journal of Adolescent Health evaluates the effectiveness of interventions focused on smoking, alcohol or combined drug...
Alcohol Use and Cognitive Harm
Around 88,000 Americans die from alcohol-related harm each year. The physical effects of alcohol abuse, including certain cancers, heart disease and liver disease, are well-known. There is also much evidence that suggests alcohol can have a...
Student Smokers in US at All-Time Low
Smoking, and the desire to smoke, cigarettes amongst high school students in the United States is currently at an all-time low, according to a recent article published in Preventing Chronic Disease. The study found that between 2012 – 2014...
E-Cigarettes and Passive Smoking: Is There a Risk?
E-cigarettes are becoming more and more popular. As such, many in the field of drug prevention and treatment are eager to uncover how they affect our health. E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco. However, it has been found by researchers at...
Family Voices Competition
Have you been affected by someone else's drug or alcohol use? Would you like to be able to tell your story? Adfam's Family Voices Competition allows friends and family members who have lived through someone else’s substance use to express...
USA and Europe: Drug Use Compared
This month saw the release of the findings from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The publication shows the country-by-country results for the use of various legal and illegal drugs. Thirty-five European...
Drug Demand Reduction Education & Role of University Students
Today the Muskan Foundation team presented its mission, vision, objectives and activities in the areas of substance abuse and alcohol prevention, treatment and rehabilitation at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) in New Delhi...
Are Drinking Cultures in the West Changing?
Levels of alcohol consumption have generally decreased in the West over the last ten years. A series of papers published in a recent special issue of Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy focuses on this topic of drinking cultures...
Social Inequality and Marijuana Use
Are the poor smoking more? An article published recently in the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy sets out to answer just that. It explores the link between teenage marijuana use and income inequality in the national contexts...
Adieu to Stereotypes? Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption in France
If you were asked to provide a list of things we most associate with French cultural identity, wine and cigarettes would probably feature. A recent survey, however, suggests that, as is generally the case across Europe, alcohol and tobacco...
Drug Demand Reduction Education
India's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment held a session on Recovery and Recovery Management. The session was attended by around 22 participants from 11 states across India including doctors, counsellors, psychologists and people...
Derecho a la salud y tabaquismo en las Américas
Una audiencia histórica. Por primera vez, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), en el marco del 157 Periodo de Sesiones, concedió una audiencia temática sobre tabaquismo ante...