Contemporary Drug Problems

Errata

Alcohol and Islam: An Overview

Alcohol and Islam is a relatively understudied topic, although alcohol abuse is a significant social problem both in Muslim majority countries and among Muslim minorities. Questions of religious identity as they relate to food and drink prescriptions and proscriptions also make alcohol and Islam a worthwhile topic. This article offers a general overview of alcohol and Islam. It briefly introduces alcohol and Islam in history; examines the main Islamic religious sources (the Quran, the sayings...

Differences in Predictors of Alcohol-Related Aggression and Non-Alcohol-Related Violent Perpetration: An Exploratory Analysis in a Sample of Young Adult Drinkers

In a secondary analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the present article explored whether drinking behaviors, early behavioral problems, risk-taking and demographic variables were differentially associated with alcohol-related aggression (arguments or fights after drinking) and non-alcohol-related violent perpetration (hitting or attacking someone) among drinkers aged 17 to 21. The most notable finding was that heavy episodic drinking and usual drinking location wer...

Social Processes Underlying Acculturation: A Study of Drinking Behavior Among Immigrant Latinos in the Northeast United States

Study Goals: To identify social processes that underlie the relationship of acculturation and heavy drinking behavior among Latinos who have immigrated to the Northeast United States of America (USA). Method: Community-based recruitment strategies were used to identify 36 Latinos who reported heavy drinking. Participants were 48% female, 23 to 56 years of age, and were from South or Central America (39%) and the Caribbean (24%). Six focus groups were audiotaped and transcribed. Results: Conte...

The Interplay Between Perceived Self-Choice and Reported Informal, Formal and Legal Pressures in Treatment Entry

This article focuses on the interplay between reported informal, formal and legal pressure and self-choice in treatment entry. The representative sample of those entering treatment for alcohol or drugs problems in Stockholm County, Sweden includes 1865 clients (71% men). Most respondents reported that it was their own idea to come to treatment (81%). It was also common to report reasons for entering treatment indicating different forms of perceived pressures, especially informal pressures (75...

Why Not Treatment? - Untreated Substance Abusers' Accounts of Their Lifestyles and Efforts to Change

In this study a sample of non-abstinent untreated amphetamine users' accounts of lifestyles, living conditions and efforts to change were described and analyzed. The objective was to inductively identify the qualitative characteristics of their potential distance to the treatment system. The analysis focused how self presentations and descriptions of reality were related to views on treatment and lifestyle change. Results showed that respondents distanced themselves from the individuals and p...

Speaking Addictions: Substitution, Metaphor and Authenticity in Newspaper Representations of Methadone Treatment

Press coverage of addiction tends to be prolific if not always accurate or considered. This article examines the ways in which methadone treatment is reported in three respected daily newspapers, the New York Times, the Times (London) and the Sydney Morning Herald. To conduct this analysis I focus on the role of metaphor, asking what impact the use of metaphor-both to figure methadone and to mobilize it as a figure for other phenomena-has in this context. In the process I consider the status ...