In This Issue
Blaine Stothard
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp.266-268 (Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today)
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - December 2, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Blaine Stothard Source Type: research
Editorial
Axel Klein, Blaine Stothard
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp.261-265 (Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today)
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - December 2, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Axel Klein
Blaine Stothard Source Type: research
Fully legal or only medical and religious purposes? Public support for cannabis policies in the Eastern Caribbean
This study is unique in its cross-country analysis in the Caribbean and providing valuable insight into the levels public support for cannabis legalisation. Its findings can help shape targeted public education in these countries. (Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today)
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - November 29, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Alana Griffith
Mahalia Jackman
Peter Wickham Source Type: research
The misuse of drugs act – a user perspective
Mat Southwell
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
This paper aims to demonstrate the ways in which the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) militates against the interests and situations of people who use drugs. The author reflects on the author’s journey as a drug user, drugs workers and drug user organiser to critique the MDA. The author describes the impact of the MDA on the author’s early experimentation with substances and highlights the limitations of simplistic drugs prevention. The author describes how the MDA maximises drug-related risks and undermines the c...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - November 23, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Mat Southwell Source Type: research
More harm than good? Cannabis, harm and the misuse of drugs act
Gary R. Potter, Hattie Wells
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
This paper aims to consider the nature of cannabis-related harms under the UK’s Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). Written for the specific context of this four-paper special section on 50 years of the MDA, it argues that the MDA may cause more harm than it prevents.
An opinion piece offering a structured overview of cannabis-related harms under prohibition. It summarises existing evidence of the ways in which prohibition may exacerbate existing – and create new – harms related to the produc...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - November 23, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Gary R. Potter
Hattie Wells Source Type: research
Risk perception, health stressors and reduction in sharing cannabis products during the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional study
This study aimed to understand the extent to which cannabis-related risk perception and COVID-19-related health worries were associated with the reported reduction in sharing cannabis smoking products to mitigate the risk of the coronavirus transmission or infection. This association was tested in two different periods in terms of toughness of national lockdown policy imposed in the first months of the pandemic in Israel.
The study population included adult recreational cannabis users who completed one of the two online cross-sectional surveys dedicated to COVID-19 and the cannabis use situation in Israel in the first...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - October 21, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Dennis Rosenberg
Sharon Sznitman Source Type: research
From law to regulation: re-appraising the misuse of Drugs Act 1971
Toby Seddon
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
The purpose of this paper is to re-appraise the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in order to develop alternative and new ideas for drug law reform.
The approach is to analyse the Act from historical and socio-legal perspectives, drawing on the inter-disciplinary field of regulation studies.
The Act has its roots in radical counter-cultural reform activism in the 1960s. Its innovative legal structure has enabled a diverse range of policy approaches to be possible over the last 50 years. Future drug law reform ...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - October 15, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Toby Seddon Source Type: research
Fifty years of the UK Misuse of Drugs Act 1971: the legislative contexts
Blaine Stothard
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the history of relevant legislation before and after the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA).
A chronological narrative of laws and reports with concluding discussion.
That UK legislators have not made use of the evidence base available to them and have favoured enforcement rather than treatment approaches. That current UK practice has exacerbated not contain the use of and harms caused by illegal drugs.
The paper does not cover all relevant documents, espe...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - October 12, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Blaine Stothard Source Type: research
Benefits and barriers associated with take-home-naloxone in the view of Italian service providers
Sara Rolando, Franca Beccaria, Susanna Ronconi
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
Spanning almost 30 years, Italy’s experience with take-home-naloxone (THN) provides an interesting case study on the international scene because of its specific history, regulation and trends in overdose (OD) rates. Accordingly, this study aims to contribute to the evidence base for THN and its delivery in a different setting.
The study focuses on service providers’ perceptions of the benefits, risks and barriers associated with THN provision. Data was collected using...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - October 5, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Rolando
Franca Beccaria
Susanna Ronconi Source Type: research
“We don’t have any answers within the current framework”: tensions within cannabis policy change in Ireland
This study aims to explore policymaker’s attitudes towards the decriminalisation and legal regulation of cannabis for recreational use in the midst of an unfolding policy process, examining the degree which a “policy window” might be open for the implementation of cannabis policy change.
Semi-structured interviews were held with eight key informants within the policy field in Dublin, Ireland. Kingdon’s (2014) Multiple Streams framework was used to consider whether the problems, policy and political streams were aligning to support progressive policy change.
Irish policymakers indicated broad support for...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - September 30, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Chris Ó. Rálaigh
Sarah Morton Source Type: research
Guest editorial
Mélina Germes, Bernd Werse, Marie Jauffret-Roustide
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp.173-177 (Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today)
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - September 6, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: M élina Germes
Bernd Werse
Marie Jauffret-Roustide Source Type: research
Mapping “drug places” from below. The lived cities of marginalized drug users
Mélina Germes, Luise Klaus, Svea Steckhan
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
On top of their legal, economic, social and institutional marginalization, marginalized drug users (MDUs) also experience political marginalization: drug policies shape their lives without their political participation. From a scientific as well as a political perspective, the inclusion of their various viewpoints and situated knowledge is a major challenge, and one to which this paper aims to contribute in light of the experiences and imaginaries of MDUs urban spaces in several Ger...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - August 26, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: M élina Germes
Luise Klaus
Svea Steckhan Source Type: research
Marginalised identities between fatalism and desperation – experiences of low-level cannabis street dealers in Frankfurt
Bernd Werse
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
This paper aims to research people who sell cannabis in public spaces known as “drug places” in Frankfurt, Germany. A particular focus is set to the relations of identity formation, relations to other dealers and law enforcement, taking into account the concept of “street capital” as social and cultural capital accumulated in the practice of drug dealing in public.
Nine biographically oriented qualitative interviews were conducted directly within the respective “drug places” in the inner city and...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - August 13, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Bernd Werse Source Type: research
Sociological and spatial dynamics of an evolving Parisian open drug scene: the case of the “Colline du Crack”
Candy Jangal, Mathieu Lovera, Sayon Dambélé, Marie Jauffret-Roustide
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-
In November 2019, an open drug scene, commonly called “Colline du crack” and located in Paris was forcibly closed after 10 years of existence. This paper aims to understand how that space has evolved over the years to become a major hub for drug use.
The authors used a qualitative approach that included interviews with 52 people who use drugs (PWUD) and 54 field professionals and ethnographic observations. The authors asked questions about the ...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - August 1, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Candy Jangal
Mathieu Lovera
Sayon Damb élé
Marie Jauffret-Roustide Source Type: research
Tolerance zones: a pragmatic approach to respond to problems related to open alcohol and drug scenes in Bremen/Germany
This study aims to describe and analyse an approach in the city of Bremen (Germany) to establish streetwork-supported tolerance zones for local open drug and alcohol scenes to reduce related disorder and nuisance in public spaces.
The qualitative methodology included systematic participant observations at public sites of drug and alcohol use, and problem-centred interviews with different groups of respondents (residents, passers-by, trades people, drug users, experts from addiction help and police).
In residential districts, tolerance zones were well accepted by their target group and found to reduce perceived di...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - July 26, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Susanna Prepeliczay
Henning Schmidt-Semisch Source Type: research
