Journal of Substance Use 

About: Journal of Substance Use is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Medicine & Population. It has an ISSN identifier of 1465-9891. Over the lifetime, 1844 publications have been published receiving 16145 citations.

A ‘components’ model of addiction within a biopsychosocial framework

Abstract: There is now a growing movement that views a number of behaviours as potentially addictive including many that do not involve the ingestion of a drug (such as gambling, sex, exercise, videogame playing and Internet use). This paper argues that all addictions consist of a number of distinct common components (salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict and relapse). The paper argues that addictions are a part of a biopsychosocial process and evidence is growing that excessive behaviours of all types do seem to have many commonalities. It is argued that an eclectic approach to the studying of addictive behaviour appears to be the most pragmatic way forward in the field. Such commonalities may have implications not only for treatment of such behaviours but also for how the general public perceive such behaviours.

Validation of the CAST, a general population Cannabis Abuse Screening Test

Abstract: Background: Although the use of cannabis among young people has become a major public health concern, there is no such test in France for general population surveys.Objective: This article aims to present a short screening test for cannabis abuse among adolescents and young adults in general population surveys, the CAST (Cannabis Abuse Screening Test) designed at the French Monitoring Center for Drug and Drug addictions (OFDT).Methods: The survey was conducted in France among 1728 scholars aged 14–22, in secondary schools, high schools, and university. After presenting internal consistency and factorial structure, the authors compared the CAST with the part of the POSIT (Problem‐Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers) dealing with alcohol and drug abuse among cannabis users in order to validate the optimal thresholds of the CAST for the high risk of abuse defined for the POSIT.Results: The CAST appears to be unidimensional and have high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha equals 0.81). Among canna...

Over-the-counter medicine abuse – a review of the literature

Abstract: Background: The sale of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines from pharmacies can help individuals self-manage symptoms. However, some OTC medicines may be abused, with addiction and harms being increas...

The share of violence attributable to drinking

Abstract: While analysts have differed on whether alcohol causes crime, the differences primarily reflect varying definitions of causation. At a population level, more drinking tends to lead to more violence, and less drinking to less. Estimates of the fraction of violence attributable to alcohol have been based both on individual-level and on population-level data. At the individual level, there seem to be cultural differences in the proportion of violent episodes involving drinking, although it is difficult to determine what proportion of these episodes should be attributed to alcohol. At the aggregate level, there are clear variations between different drinking cultures in the fraction of violence attributable to drinking, with the proportion higher in northern and eastern than in southern Europe. These cultural differences underline that there is no single invariant attributable fraction for alcohol's role in violence. The advantages and disadvantages of further individual- and aggregate-level studies are discu...