Recent bulletins from the Findings drug and alcohol bank:
Measuring alcohol-related harm; politics and science
At national level alcohol-related harm and especially the net cost of harm versus benefits are slippery concepts. Malleability and policy salience combine to make the estimates contested territory, seen as justifying reduced alcohol taxes at one end and greatly increased prices at the other.
Does it matter if addiction is a brain disease?
Seizing on the theory’s propaganda value, in 1997 the head of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse proclaimed, “Addiction Is a Brain Disease, and It Matters.” His contention has been hailed as a breakthrough or condemned as a counterproductive chimera, closing our eyes what is really important about addiction.
Groundbreaking prevention trial; ‘robust’ findings?
Evaluated prevention programmes for adolescents are typically implemented by research teams, raising questions over real-world applicability and sustainability, but a groundbreaking US trial is said to have produced a “robust” demonstration of the potential of a system in which communities take the lead. Our detailed analysis suggests ‘robust’ is an adjective too far, and explains methodological concerns common to many prevention trials.
Funding cuts threaten ‘dismantling’ of English drug treatment system
Based on research, financial data and stakeholder surveys and testimonies, the UK government’s official drug policy advisers warn that without significant efforts to protect investment and quality, in England “loss of funding will result in the dismantling of a drug misuse treatment system that has brought huge improvement to the lives of people with drug and alcohol problems”.
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