Research on drug issues in most European countries has long been dominated by the medical and therapeutic professions. In 1990 the European Society of Social Dr... » 

Research on drug issues in most European countries has long been dominated by the medical and therapeutic professions. In 1990 the European Society of Social Drug Research ESSD was founded to promote the exchange of research findings among social scientists and to explore possibilities for future cooperation. This book contains a careful selection of papers that were presented at the 14th International Conference of the European Society for Social Drug Research ESSD in Ghent 24 October 2003. Together the chapters of this volume give an uptodate impression of the current focuses of European social science research in the field of drugs. Though the picture they paint is far from complete the separate chapters do reflect the diversity of topics now under investigation. Much attention is devoted to qualitative research but new developments are also reported in quantitative methodologies to study drug use in general populations. «