In the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean there has been a dramatic expansion in drug demand reduction (DDR) programmes over the past decade. Often drawing on models originating in the countries providing the funding in North America or Europe, these activities have often been inadequately monitored and rarely evaluated. The absence of…

Ten years after publication of the UK Government's strategy for drug misuse in 1995, Tackling Drugs Together, the impact of drug education and prevention programmes remains less than desired. The 1995 strategy envisaged a new emphasis on education and prevention and there have been developments since then in drug education, especially with…

Volatile substance abuse (VSA) is an under-recognized worldwide problem. Data, especially international comparisons, are limited. The 2005 ESPAD report published data on VSA from 35 countries, collected in 2003. Lifetime prevalence of VSA can be as high as 22%, with little difference between boys and girls in most countries. Perceived risk of VSA…

This exploratory study investigates whether associations between social network measures and substance use differ according to type of substance and social context. The analyses use data obtained from 13 and 15 year olds (N=3146) in a school-based survey and focus on three social network measures: sociometric position (e.g. group, dyad, isolate);…

Cannabis use is increasingly prevalent among young adults in Canada. Due to cannabis' impairment effects, driving under the influence of cannabis has recently developed into a traffic-safety concern, yet little is known about the specific circumstances and factors characterizing this behavior among young people. In this study, we interviewed a…

Mortality resulting from alcohol abuse in young French people is too high in spite of prevention campaigns for road safety in particular. There are problems in identifying alcohol abuse in young people in preventive medicine or alcohol care services. This study was carried out in alcohol centres; data from patients under 25 are analysed and…

The aim of this study is to compare substance use between urban and rural secondary school districts in Texas between 1998 and 2003. The differences were analyzed using chi-square and analysis of variance. The analysis found that rural schools had students who reported higher rates of use of tobacco, frequent binge drinking, and driving while…

The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the prerequisites for tobacco prevention. The situations before and after the introduction of a minimum-age law were compared with respect to opportunities for adolescents to buy tobacco, and to attitudes towards the law. Data were collected in 1996 and 2000 with a questionnaire among all…

A sample of 291 people aged 16-25 responded to an interviewer-completed questionnaire seeking information on their quantity and rate of alcohol consumption. The survey was conducted in licensed premises in the centre of a large English city. Analysis revealed that men drank more than women, but adjusting for body size and recommended alcohol…

It is well established that children of problem drinkers have an increased risk of developing mental health problems, including drinking and drug misuse problems, depression, eating disorders, conduct disorders, and delinquency. However, compared to the hundreds of studies that have examined the effects of parental problem drinking on their…

The concept of risk, and its centrality to social life, is theoretically much discussed within late modernity. This paper examines young people's drug use and their drug transitions within a framework of risk drawing on findings from a longitudinal ethnographic study of drug use among young people in a Dublin inner-city community. Fifty-seven…