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Background: England, Australia and the United States have approached the regulation of e‐cigarettes in very different ways, yet all three countries have appealed to the concept of evidence as underpinning policy responses. We compared these policy responses using a combination of the methodologies of historians and policy scientists in order to elucidate the factors that had influenced policy in each country. Argument/Analysis: Each country's evidence and values intersected in different ways, producing very different responses within specific national contexts and histories. Our analysis accordingly emphasized the historical precursors of the policy issues raised by e‐cigarettes and placed the policy debate within the context of regulatory bodies and the networks of researchers and advocates who influenced policy. Issues also of importance were the nature of the state; political context; the pre‐history of nicotine for smoking cessation; the role of activism and its links with government; the influence of harm reduction ideas from drugs and HIV; and finally, whom policy was perceived to benefit. In the United Kingdom, based on this pre‐history of the smoking issue, it was the existing smoker, while in the United States and Australia, protecting children and adolescents has played a central role. Conclusions: Structural and historical factors appear to underpin differences in e‐cigarette policy development in England, Australia and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To describe an outbreak of lung injuries in 2019 among people who vaped in the United States (type of injuries, people afflicted, substances vaped and cause of the injuries) and to analyse critically the regulatory responses of public health authorities and the media reporting of the outbreak. Methods: Case studies of the reporting of the e‐cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury (EVALI) outbreak. We examined data on the number of cases of lung injury provided by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), public advice on the causes of the outbreak provided by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), major media reports of the outbreak and proposed regulatory responses by governments in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. Results: The CDC initially suggested that the cause of the outbreak was nicotine vaping because the outbreak followed a large increase in nicotine vaping among US adolescents. Case–control studies revealed that the majority of cases had vaped illicit cannabis oils that were contaminated by vitamin E acetate. The CDC's public advice and the media were slow to report the evidence on the role of cannabis vaping. Popular government regulatory proposals—bans on sales of nicotine flavours and vaporizers—were based on the assumption that nicotine vaping was the cause of the outbreak. Conclusions: Media reporting in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom of the US Centers for Disease Control's analysis of the causes of the e‐cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury outbreak contributed to regulatory over‐reactions to nicotine vaping by the public health community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To assess (1) how far smoking patterns, depression and smoking‐related beliefs and intentions predict vaping uptake, current vaping and vaping frequency among daily smokers; and (2) how far the aforementioned predictors and baseline vaping frequency predict current vaping among those who reported ever vaped. Design Analysis of data from six waves of a longitudinal survey over 8 years. Longitudinal associations between predictors and outcomes were examined using multi‐level models. Setting: United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia. Participants: A total of 6296 daily smokers (53% females) who contributed data to at least two consecutive survey waves. Measurements The outcome variables were vaping uptake, vaping frequency and current vaping at follow‐up. The key predictor variables, measured in previous waves, were time to first cigarette, cigarettes smoked per day, depressive symptoms, intention to quit smoking, quitting self‐efficacy and worry about adverse health effects of smoking. Findings Number of cigarettes smoked daily was associated with (1) subsequent vaping uptake [odds ratio (OR) = 1.69, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.19, 2.39 for 30+ cigarette per day; reference category: 0–10 cigarettes] and (2) a higher frequency of current vaping (OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.36, 2.85 for 30+ cigarettes). Intention to quit was associated with a higher frequency of current vaping (OR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.21, 1.82). Among those who reported ever vaped, higher baseline vaping frequency (OR = 11.98, 95% CI = 6.00, 23.93 for daily vaping at baseline; reference category: vaped less than monthly) predicted current vaping. Conclusion: Among daily smokers, amount smoked and intention to quit smoking appear to predict subsequent vaping uptake. Vaping frequency at baseline appears to predict current vaping at follow‐up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Griffith Edwards played an important role in cannabis policy debates within government advisory committees in the United Kingdom from the early 1970s until the early 1980s. This has largely been hidden from public knowledge by the confidentiality of these committee discussions. The purpose of this paper is to use Griffith's writings and the results of recent historical scholarship to outline the views he expressed, the reasons he gave for them, and to provide a brief assessment of his contribution to the development of British cannabis policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2004 the "Addiction" periodical published an editorial criticizing the decision of the British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to appoint the Chief Executive of the Portman Group, a drinks industry lobby, to the Board of the Alcohol and Education Research Council. We argued that this appointment was contrary to the public interest and should be reversed. We took our stand from the proposition that protecting ‘the integrity of the science base from distortion by industry lobbyists is our concern and duty whatever the country, whatever the research or training body, and across the whole spectrum of vested interests’.

Editorial. Focuses on the drug prevention program for young people in Great Britain. Aetiology of drug abuse; Factors influencing the choice of peers; Characterization of social environments.

The authors reflect on the article "Prohibition or Coffee Shops: Regulation of Amphetamine and Methylphenidate for Enhancement Use by Healthy Adults" by Veljko Dubljević and the ethical analyses of cognitively enhancing drugs (CED). They state because stimulant drugs cannot be sold as legal commodities under the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Drugs, taxes cannot be used to discourage stimulant CED abuse. They express doubt concerning the effectiveness of the proposed system.

The authors criticize the conflict between the British government and its expert advisers over policy making and other issues. They claim that in Great Britain, experts offer recommendations and government ministers make policy with no obligations to accept their experts' advice. They cite as an example the dismissal of Professor David Nutt as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) due to a minister's rejection of an advice by an expert adviser. Details of the circumstances that led to his dismissal are provided.

Focuses on the problem of alcohol dependence in Great Britain. Increase seen in the prevalence of alcoholic cirrhosis, alcohol related violence and heavy alcohol use in Britain in the past 20 years, and how much that is costing the British economy; Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of motivational enhancement treatment and social network therapy for treating alcohol dependence; Need for Britain to reduce the high rates of high risk drinking that produce dependence by reducing alcohol availability by lowering taxes on beverages with lower alcohol concentrations.

Comments on drug-related deaths, especially due to illicit drug use. Factors obscuring the public health impact of drug-related deaths; Reference to a report published in summer 2000 by the United Kingdom Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD); Contribution of methadone treatment and hepatitis to the drug-related death rates; Assertion that a public health campaign is needed to discourage users from injecting drugs.

The article reviews the book "Social Poison: the Culture and Politics of Opiate Control in Britain and France 1821-1926" by Howard Padwa.

Background: How addiction treatment providers view different models of addiction has implications for workforce development and addiction treatment, however research exploring their views is limited. This study examined Australian, UK and US treatment providers': (1) levels of support for the psychosocial, disease model of addiction (DMA) and brain disease model of addiction (BDMA); and, (2) individual demographic characteristics that were associated with support for these models.Methods: A total of 1438 treatment providers in Australia (n = 337), the UK (n = 165) and US (n = 936) completed an online survey. Support for the psychosocial and DMA were measured using the Short Understanding of Substance Abuse Scale (SUSS) (Humphreys et al., 1996) and BDMA support using a measure created by the authors. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were used to analyze associations between treatment providers' demographic characteristics (i.e., previous addiction status, attended 12-step programmes, age, gender, education level) and level of support for each model.Results: There were no significant differences in treatment providers' support for the psychosocial model between the three country groups. US participants had significantly higher levels of support for the DMA than the UK group, and the UK group was higher than the Australian group. US participants had significantly higher levels of support for the BDMA than Australian and UK participants. Regression analyses found that being younger in all three country groups and a higher level of education in the UK group was associated with greater psychosocial model support. A personal experience of addiction and 12-step programmes was associated with stronger support for the DMA, as was older age in the Australian and US treatment provider groups. In the US group, a personal experience of addiction and 12-step programmes was associated with support for the BDMA.Conclusion: Treatment providers from different backgrounds and in different countries vary in how they view the etiology of addiction. How differences in views about addiction impact service delivery and clients' experience of care remains an important topic for future research. Furthermore, policy makers should consider treatment providers' heterogenous views about addiction and the implications for service delivery and workforce policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]