Critical features of human addiction are increasingly being incorporated into complementary animal models, including escalation of drug intake, punished drug seeking and taking, intermittent drug access, choice between drug and non-drug rewards, and assessment of individual differences based on criteria in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Combined with new technologies, these models advanced our understanding of brain mechanisms of drug self-administration and relapse, but these mechanistic gains have not led to improvements in addiction treatment. This problem is not unique to addiction neuroscience, but it is an increasing source of disappointment and calls to regroup. Here we first summarize behavioural and neurobiological results from the animal models mentioned above. We then propose a reverse translational approach, whose goal is to develop models that mimic successful treatments: opioid agonist maintenance, contingency management and the community-reinforcement approach. These reverse-translated ‘treatments’ may provide an ecologically relevant platform from which to discover new circuits, test new medications and improve translation. Recent advances in animal addiction models have emphasized translational challenges. In this Review, Venniro and colleagues introduce a reverse translational approach that may provide an ecologically relevant platform from which to discover new circuits, test new medications and improve translation.

Improving translation of animal models of addiction and relapse by reverse translation.

Drug addiction is a neuropsychiatric disorder with grave personal consequences that has an extraordinary global economic impact. Despite decades of research, the options available to treat addiction are often ineffective because our rudimentary understanding of drug-induced pathology in brain circuits and synaptic physiology inhibits the rational design of successful therapies. This understanding will arise first from animal models of addiction where experimentation at the level of circuits and molecular biology is possible. We will review the most common preclinical models of addictive behavior and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. This includes non-contingent models in which animals are passively exposed to rewarding substances, as well as widely used contingent models such as drug self-administration and relapse. For the latter, we elaborate on the different ways of mimicking craving and relapse, which include using acute stress, drug administration or exposure to cues and contexts previously paired with drug self-administration. We further describe paradigms where drug-taking is challenged by alternative rewards, such as appetitive foods or social interaction. In an attempt to better model the individual vulnerability to drug abuse that characterizes human addiction, the field has also established preclinical paradigms in which drug-induced behaviors are ranked by various criteria of drug use in the presence of negative consequences. Separation of more vulnerable animals according to these criteria, along with other innate predispositions including goal- or sign-tracking, sensation-seeking behavior or impulsivity, has established individual genetic susceptibilities to developing drug addiction and relapse vulnerability. We further examine current models of behavioral addictions such as gambling, a disorder included in the DSM-5, and exercise, mentioned in the DSM-5 but not included yet due to insufficient peer-reviewed evidence. Finally, after reviewing the face validity of the aforementioned models, we consider the most common standardized tests used by pharmaceutical companies to assess the addictive potential of a drug during clinical trials.

/pdf/understanding-addiction-using-animal-models-grkdbc9k3h.pdf

Understanding Addiction Using Animal Models.

Review of approaches taken in Ireland and in other jurisdictions to simple possession drug offences. A report for the Irish Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Health.

The European Union selected achieving a leadership position in the AI sector as one of the priorities for the future of the bloc as a whole. Economic reasons are behind this decision, but they are ...

Liability and artificial intelligence in the EU: Assessing the adequacy of the current Product Liability Directive:

Portugal decriminalized the public and private use, acquisition, and possession of all drugs in 2000; adopting an approach focused on public health rather than public-order priorities. Arguing that the Portuguese Drug Policy Model has not proven influential enough to emancipate drug use from the stigma that associates it either with crime or pathology, this article critically discusses the developments and current challenges the Portuguese drug policy confronts, namely the growing diversity of drug use patterns observed in Portugal as well as in Europe. To this end, international and national legal instruments concerning drugs and official local data were analysed. Despite encouraging results, conclusions indicate that these policies are marked by contradictions and ambiguities that have permeated its history since the very beginning, and modest ambitions, particularly regarding the implementation of harm reduction measures. Moreover, the polemical Supreme Court judgment that reestablished, in 2008, drug use as a crime when the quantities at play exceeded those required for an average individual’s use for 10 days, might have impacted the landscape of drug use penalization. The last decade saw an increase of punitiveness targeted at drug users, including criminal sentences of jail terms. We finish with some suggestions that could be employed in the practical application of drug policy.

/pdf/20-years-of-portuguese-drug-policy-developments-challenges-5eh2x7kut2.pdf

20 years of Portuguese drug policy - developments, challenges and the quest for human rights.

Fifteen years ago when Portugal decriminalized the consumption of all narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances it was both a bold and a desperate move to curb the drug problem that the country fa...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2050324516683640

The 15th anniversary of the Portuguese drug policy: Its history, its success and its future:

The development of AI will bring with it a plethora of new economic and social opportunities. Areas that are as distinct as agriculture and health will be inevitably changed. However, this “new” technology also brings with it fundamental challenges and a new reality that our current legal framework is not yet prepared to deal with. In this paper, we will study the opportunities that AI brings to the European Union, the difficulties of regulating it, the current state of affairs, and theinitiatives currently being drawn up to guarantee that the EU can keep up and even become a leader in this area. Our focus will be on the areas of health, labour market, liability rules and the challenges for the integration of robots in our daily lives.

Robotics and AI in the European Union: opportunities and challenges

This paper aims to clarify how the legislative procedure works in the European Union (hereinafter, EU), both in the Treaties and in practice. We will study the rules governing the ordinary legislative procedure and the special consent and consultation procedures. Advantages and shortcomings of each of the procedures will also be addressed, including the main actors and the level of transparency and accountability. Within the ordinary legislative procedure, we will assess whether the informal trilogues should be reformed to be more accessible to the European citizen. Lastly, our paper will also address the use of passerelle clauses and citizen’s and how they can affect the lawmaking procedure in the EU

A short guide to the legislative procedure in the European Union

2016 was marked by the rise of populism and isolationism around the world. The European Union is losing a Member State for the first time, after the British voted to leave in their “Brexit” referendum. Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, causing concern amongst European leaders. In the remaining Member States, populist and Eurosceptic political forces are becoming more relevant, further endangering the integrity of the European Union. In this paper, we analyse the motives behind the European Union’s “existential crisis”, which is arguably, one of the most significant challenges the EU will face in its near future. We conclude that the European Union must reform in order to regain their citizens’ trust and reinforce democracy.

http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/54109/1/Rita%20de%20Sousa%20Costa%20%26%20Tiago%20S%c3%a9rgio%20Cabral.pdf

Tiago Sérgio Cabral

Papers

The 15th anniversary of the Portuguese drug policy: Its history, its success and its future:

Liability and artificial intelligence in the EU: Assessing the adequacy of the current Product Liability Directive:

Robotics and AI in the European Union: opportunities and challenges

A short guide to the legislative procedure in the European Union

The European Union’s existential crisis: current challenges from populism to Donald Trump