A new study suggests that Londoners consume the most cocaine during the week. However, it was also found that, when weekends were taken into account, the Belgian city of Antwerp overtook the UK’s capital for cocaine consumption. The results...
In its latest Smoke-Free Movies Report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) advised governments that films featuring tobacco use ought to be classified for their adult content. Published in the journal Tobacco Control, a new study supports...
New research suggests that certain personality traits, such as having a lack of restraint or being impulsive, increase the likelihood of developing alcohol use disorders. On the flip side, the study found that people with high resilience...
A new study carried out by researchers at Purdue University, and subsequently published in the journal PLOS ONE, has found that mixing alcohol with energy drinks may affect the adolescent brain in much the same way as does taking cocaine...
The latest Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) provides a national overview of the prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption and drug use in 2015, as well as looks at trends over time. It assesses risk...
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) defines contingency management as “a general behavioural intervention technique used in the treatment of drug dependence … designed to weaken drug use and strengthen...
Alcohol use is common among children and adolescents despite the fact that this particular form of risk-behaviour can have a negative impact on one’s psychological and social development. A recent article published in the journal Drugs...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
The results are in. The 2014 – 15 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Survey shows that, on the one hand, smoking rates are generally down, while on the other, experimentation with synthetic and prescription drugs is increasing...
A recent review carried out by researchers at the University of Nottingham's UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies suggests popular YouTube music videos that include aural and/or visual references to alcohol often glamourise consumption...
Mass-media can be a great means for sharing knowledge and information. A study recently published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) aimed to determine whether such channels are successful in reducing the intention to use, and the...
Up to 50% of children who try tobacco cigarettes for the first time are likely to become regular smokers within three years. At the same time, experimentation with e-cigarettes is increasing. It is now more common for 11- to 15-year-olds in...
Drug use disorders are a serious global health problem. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that 246 million people, or one in twenty 15- to 64-year-olds, used an illegal drug in 2013. Of those who use, one in ten...
The prevalence of binge drinking is highest amongst 18- to 24-year-olds. In the United States around 1,800 college students die from unintentional alcohol-related injuries each year. Given the growth of the Internet in the last twenty years...
Eighty percent of 3- to 17-year-olds play some form of sport. Practitioners in the field of drug prevention have looked to promote sporting activity as a healthy alternative to substance use amongst young people. The Canadian Centre on...
