Edited by Peter Anderson, Gerhard Bühringer and Joan Colom

In this eBook, we bring together ten essays on the policies, processes and pressures influencing the governance of addictions in Europe. These essays do not claim to comprehensively cover everything there is to say about addictions governance, but rather provide thought-provoking reflections that have arisen from the work of ALICE RAP, either directly or through the discussions and ideas generated by ALICE RAP scientists.

Edited by Matilda Hellman, Virginia Berridge, Karen Duke, and Alex Mold

Concepts of Addictive Substances and Behaviours across Time and Place presents fascinating new historical and social scientific research examining the temporal and spatial variations in the ways that addiction problems are understood and addressed in European societies.

The book illustrates the changing and versatile nature of language use, of stakeholders concepts and ideas, and of the popular, professional and political discourse around addiction. The arguments that unfold concern the various cultural components invested in the ways in which the problems are viewed and addressed. A framework is presented for discussing these circumstances in view of current knowledge-based governance at a local, regional and global level.

Tamyko Ysa, Joan Colom, Adrià Albareda, Anna Ramon, Marina Carrión & Lidia Segura

This, the first in the series of books from ALICE RAP published by Oxford University Press, aims to contribute to the understanding of addiction policies in Europe. There are many governance studies by substances, but no aggregate study looking at how addictions, as a whole, are governed. Evidence from 28 countries is studied in relation to 4 substances (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and heroin), allowing each country to be placed on 2 scales according to the structure (from comprehensive lifestyle policy to substance specific reactive policies) and strategy (from individual security to societal wellbeing outcomes) that addictions governance followed.
The result is the clustering of countries into 4 groups representing different governance models which have been labeled:

• Traditional approach: where the most important aim is to reduce supply through criminal justice measures – the reason for the security and reduction emphasis in these countries is that they have historically been entrance points or routes for illicit drugs into the EU.
• Transitioning: treatment is more important than punishment, but these countries still tend not to lean towards decriminalisation in policies.
• Regulation of legal substances: Emphasis is on preventing heavy use over time. These countries adopt a wellbeing approach and focus on scales that are evidence-based.
• Trendsetters in illicit substances: Countries here adopt a well-being and comprehensive approach (dealing with multiple substances together). The focus is on harm-reduction for illegal substances and countries in this group rank low in regulation of legal substances – alcohol and tobacco.

There is a tendency in EU for countries to move from traditional to trendsetting models. The overall aim is to take the best for addictions governance from each model.

Peter Anderson, Jürgen Rehm, and Robin Room

The second book in series of books from ALICE RAP published by Oxford University Press, Impact of Addictive Substances and Behaviours on Individual and Societal Well-being, outlines an innovative and fascinating new framework for understanding the harm that addictive substances and behaviours can cause. Taking a holistic approach and with well-being as a central tenet, it demonstrates how using different methods can lead to a more just and evidence-based approach to dealing with addictions.

Peter Anderson, Fleur Braddick, Patricia J. Conrod, Antoni Gual, Matilda Hellman, Silvia Matrai, David Miller, David Nutt, Jürgen Rehm, Jillian Reynolds, and Tamyko Ysa

No one country has yet got governance polices right. The project's outcome is a plan for the redesign of addictions governance, which includes amendments to key metrics used in research, promoting individual-level to society-level scope of understanding in policy approaches, and bringing the impact of dependency on societal well-being to the fore.

New Governance of Addictive Substances and Behaviours is an unprecedented study, both in terms of international reach and scope of issues addressed. It will be a key resource for anyone with an interest in research-driven European policy change in public health and the field of addictive substances and behaviours.