Recent News
The international development of the ‘Social Norms’ approach to drug education and prevention
No CommentsThe social norms approach to health promotion has become remarkably popular in the last 20 years, particularly in the American college system. It is an alternative to traditional fear-based approaches of health education, which a growing body of research demonstrates is often ineffective in reducing alcohol and drug misuse.
Let’s not talk about drugs
No CommentsThe concept of ‘drugs’, as we understand it today, is a regulatory construct that was invented at the beginning of
the 20th century as part of the creation of the international prohibition regime. Substances that come under this
banner share little in common except how they are regulated. It follows that if we wish to contest prohibition,
we will also need to contest, and perhaps eventually abandon, the idea of ‘drugs’. Some of the complexities in
developing alternative terminology and concepts are briefly discussed.
Addiction and dependence in DSM-V
No CommentsAs preparations for the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) are under way,this paper focuses upon changes proposed for the substance use disorders section. It briefly outlines the history behind the current nomenclature, and the selection of the term ‘dependence’ over ‘addiction’ in earlier versions of the DSM.
The term ‘dependence’, while used in past decades to refer to uncontrolled drug-seeking behavior, has an alternative meaning—the physiological adaptation that occurs when medications acting on the central nervous system are ingested with rebound when the medication is abruptly discontinued. These dual meanings have led to confusion and may have propagated current clinical practices related to under-treatment of pain, as physicians fear creating an
‘addiction’ by prescribing opioids. In part to address this problem, a change proposed for DSM-V is to alter the chapter name to ‘Addiction and Related Disorders’,which will include disordered gambling. The specific substance use disorders may be referred to as ‘alcohol use’ or ‘opioid use’ disorders. The criteria for the disorders are likely to remain similar, with the exception of removal of the ‘committing illegal acts’ criterion and addition of a ‘craving’ criterion. The other major change relates to the elimination of the abuse/dependence dichotomy, given the lack of data supporting an intermediate stage. These changes are anticipated to improve clarification and diagnosis and treatment of substance use and related disorders.
Drug-related deaths in the UK continue to rise
No CommentsDrug related deaths reported in the UK have risen by 11.8 per cent to 2,182 in a year, reveals a report released today by St George’s, University of London. The National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths report shows that the annual death rate is continuing to increase, up from the previous year’s 2.7 per cent rise.
The report – which covers notifications ofoccurring in 2009 – shows an increase from the 1,952 reported in 2008. Most of the deaths (1,698 – 77.8 per cent) were of men, only a slight increase from the previous year. And most deaths (1,415 – 64.8 per cent) were of people aged 25-44. Again, this was a very slight annual rise.
Social environments modulate alcohol use
No CommentsParallel evidence that social environments modify genetic influences on human drinking patterns has been more difficult to obtain, and not only becausewe control neither genetic background nor social rearing. There are many risk and protective factors for use/abuse of alcohol in humans, and most are inherently confounded. Peer effects on adolescent drinking illustrate this, because peer effects arise from both socialization and selection and the selection is driven, in part, by assortative pairing for behaviors that are heritable and riskrelevant to substance use.
