Alcohol and Drugs

Part 1 Surveys and their limitations: methods of data collection from the general population which relate to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use - the Polish experience, Jerzy Jasinski; problems in data collection from the general population related to alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use, Jussi Simpura; data collection - a methodological response, John Duffy; achieving comparability between surveys in different settings, Hildigunnur Olafsdottir; the problems and logistics of alcohol research in different settings - the example of the USSR, Irina Anokhina and Nikolai Ivanets; the USSR - relevance for research and policy, Martin Plant; the measurement of problems in community surveys, Henk Garretsen; how to measure alcohol-related problems amongst young people in community surveys, Salme Ahlstrom; the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and the harmful consequences of drinking, Esa Osterberg. Part 2 Patterns of use and policy implications: the use of official data in measuring patterns of drug use in the community - merits and limitations, Marie Choquest and Silvie Ledoux; the relationship between consumption patterns of alcohol, tobacco, prescribed and illegal drugs and harmful consequences, Anna Kokkevi and Costas Stefanis; polydrug abuse - standards for comparative measures, Wolfram Keup; user careers - implications for preventing drug misuse, Walter Weiss; substance abuse careers - attempts to quantify the course of dependence, Wolfram Keup; constraints upon policy, Martin Plant; conclusion, Martin Plant.