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Friday, July 6, 2007

Commentaries on Cook and Reuter
A CROSS-CUTTING RESEARCH AGENDA ON ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND OTHER DRUGS: WHERE TO START?
 Addiction 102 (8), 1191–1192.



Like Cook and Reuter, my impression of the research that informs current understanding of psychoactive substance use and which shapes policy responses is that it largely comprises studies on a single substance type. The last hundred years has seen an explosion in the availability of psychoactive substances; some are developed prescribed medications for the treatment of mental health problems and others are manufactured illegally, often in home-based laboratories. The expansion of international transport, communication and trade has ensured that these new substances as well as more traditional ones are delivered efficiently to drug markets the world over. Contemporary patterns of substance use, especially among younger people, seem to increasingly involve the use of multiple substances both over time and on the same occasion, so that legal, illegal and prescription drug markets are increasingly intertwined. Furthermore, there is strong evidence that patterns of multiple substance use are predictive of increased risk of harms. Cook and Reuter do the substance use field a service, therefore, with their observation that it is time for a cross-cutting research agenda spanning the alcohol, tobacco and other drug fields.While the prevention field has, for some time, recognized the need to address common risk and protection factors regarding the hazardous use of different psychoactive substances and also other problem behaviours, Cook and Reuter make the undeniable point that much research funding and hence research practice to date has occurred within substance-specific silos.

A truly cross-cutting research agenda spanning all psychoactive substances would be an enormous and daunting undertaking. The questions discussed briefly below are but two in a potentially very long list of useful places to start.
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