The purpose of the present study was to examine between- and within-person relationships among protective behavioral strategies (PBS), alcohol consumption, and related negative consequences during the 21st birthday week. Participants for the present study included undergraduate college students (n = 1,028) who turned 21 during three academic quarters at a large public northwestern university in...

This editorial addresses the following documents published in this and a previous edition of the SAMJ:The Central Drug Authority (CDA)'s position paper on cannabisThe CDA's position paper on harm reductionThe CDA's response to the editorial 'Comment on the CDA's position statement on cannabis'. As there is considerable overlap between the contents of the above documents, this editorial tries to...

In the 20th century, political leaders and governments throughout the world supported drug prohibition and constructed a global drug prohibition system. They did so because of the influence of the USA and its allies and the UN. This article suggests they also did so because drug prohibition, drug demonisation and anti-drug campaigns were very useful*/especially to politicians, the police, the m...

TOPIC Evidence-based treatment of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents. PURPOSE To review the evidence base supporting current interventions for NSSI. SOURCES USED PubMed searches and ancestry analysis. CONCLUSIONS All treatments studied-developmental group therapy, individual cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy for adolescents-were found to be compa...

The opioid overdose epidemic is a major threat to the public's health, resulting in the development and implementation of a variety of strategies to reduce fatal overdose. Many strategies are focused on primary prevention and increased access to effective treatment, although the past decade has seen an exponential increase in harm reduction initiatives. To maximize identification of opportuniti...

In this issue, Parrot and Young present the results of temperature measurements in young individuals "partying" with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy). This editorial commentary briefly summarizes the main findings of their study, provides background gained from previous animal experiments, and reviews the implications for the development of future pharmacotherapies and harm r...

OBJECTIVE Recently, an increasing number of Korean male conscripts have been retiring because of military maladjustment despite the presence of qualifying medical and psychological screening tests in the Korean army. These problems suggest the presence of a common personality problem. To further examine this possibility, the present study used Cloninger's psychobiological model to investigate t...

BACKGROUND Stigma, criminalisation and a lack of data on drug use contribute to the "invisibility" of people who inject drugs (PWID) and make HIV prevention and treatment service delivery challenging. We aimed to confirm locations where PWID congregate in Cape Town, eThekwini and Tshwane (South Africa) and to estimate PWID population sizes within selected electoral wards in these areas to infor...

After 30 years of extensive research on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among persons who inject drugs (PWID), we now have a good understanding of the critical issues involved. Following the discovery of HIV in 1981, epidemics among PWID were noted in many countries, and consensus recommendations for interventions for reducing injection related HIV transmission have been developed. While hig...

The purpose of this paper is to describe what harm reduction is, how it developed, how it works, and why it is becoming a major approach in the addictive behaviors field. Based on principles of public health, harm reduction offers a pragmatic yet compassionate set of strategies designed to reduce the harmful consequences of addictive behavior for both drug consumers and the communities in which...