EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR SOCIAL DRUG RESEARCH

ESSD
FACT SHEET
(update September 2007) Backgrounds, Aims and Organisation Members The Annual Conferences Conference Topics Publications Application for Membership

Latest publication: Fountain, J. & Korf, DJ. (eds) Drugs in society: European perspectives. Oxford, Radcliffe Press. ISBN 'this volume delivered what I was expecting, and a little bit more. It is an excellent addition to the reference works in this area, allowing researchers to look wider than their national situation.' (Jorunn Moen, Druglink, September/October 2007)

ESSD IS SUPPORTED BY

BACKGROUND, AIMS AND ORGANISATION The ESSD was founded in 1990 as an association of European social scientists working on drug issues. Its principal aim is to promote social science approaches to drug research, with special reference to the situation in Europe. The society holds annual conferences and workshops, co-ordinates research and organises joint projects. Before the ESSD was established, research on drug issues in most European countries had long been dominated by the medical and therapeutic professions. Social science studies were few and far between. Individualising approaches had gained ascendancy, both in the study of the aetiology and epidemiology of drug use and in research on social response and social control. There was a keenly felt need for closer co-operation within the social science community. Such co-operation had to be international. In most European countries, the number of social scientists working in the field of drugs was, and often still is, too small to form a national scholarly community. The closest colleague working on the same topic may be in another country. Moreover, although most countries share the drug phenomenon, people are often little aware of the commonalties and differences between their own country and their neighbours in terms of the characteristics of drug use or the types of policy responses. By viewing similarities and dissimilarities in a cross-national perspective, one can better understand the existing variations in the drug phenomenon and their sociocultural determinants. Given the desire to establish a network of social scientists working on drug issues, extensive efforts were begun in 1988 to locate drug researchers in European countries and to bring them together to exchange research findings and explore possibilities for future co-operation. The efforts were greeted with great enthusiasm, and the first annual conference was held at Cologne in Germany in 1990. It was organised by Karl-Heinz Reuband, who beyond a doubt can be called the founding father of the ESSD. He was also chosen as the first chair of the organisation. The ESSD board has four members: the chairman (elected) and three members who organized previous conferences. Dr. Dirk J. Korf (Chair) Prof. dr. Jane Fountain (2005 conference) Dr. Ludwig Kraus (2004 conference) Prof. dr. Tom Decorte (2003 conference)

MEMBERS ESSD has approx. 250 members. Membership of the ESSD is free of charge and is open to social scientists in anthropology, criminology, economics, epidemiology, social psychology, social medicine, and social history and sociology. The society is European, in response to the need for closer collaboration and research in Western and Eastern Europe. Although each annual conference has a specific focus in terms of both discipline and country, some participation from other disciplines and countries is permitted, and such has been the practice at all meetings held so far.

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THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES At the first conference, nearly all participants took an active role and presented their own research. This active participation has remained a characteristic feature of ESSD conferences. Another tradition has been to hold the conference in a different country each year, preferably alternating between Northern and Southern Europe. Organisation is largely in the hands of a local team, supervised by the ESSD. Twelve conferences were held so far. They took place in fourteen countries, in late September or early October (Thursday thru Saturday). Table 1 Annual ESSD conferences: venues Conference Year 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 City COLOGNE LYON LOUGHBOROUGH ROME SONDERBRG COIMBRA AMSTERDAM OSLO PALMA DE MALLORCA VIENNA DUBLIN VENICE HELSINKI GHENT MUNICH MANCHESTER LISBON KRAKOW Country Germany France United Kingdom Italy Denmark Portugal Netherlands Norway Spain Austria Ireland Italy Finland Belgium Germany United Kingdom Portugal Poland Date 27-29 September 26-29 September 28-30 September 20-22 September 18-20 September 22-24 September 26-28 September 25-27 September 1-3 October 20-22 September 21-23 September 4-6 October 26-28 September 2-4 October 14-16 October 27-29 October 21-23 September 11-13 October

Because active participation has always been a key feature of the conferences, the ESSD has never sought to greatly enlarge the number of participants. Limited attendance is thought to enhance the quality of discussions and facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences. Such an atmosphere is also less threatening for participants new to the field, in particular the younger generations of researchers.

CONFERENCE TOPICS Papers on social control and social policy were presented at all conferences. Social control generally referred to formal social control, such as legislation (criminalisation and decriminalisation) and the role of the medical profession (e.g. inpatient treatment versus methadone programmes). Social control strategies and drug policies were examined from local, national and cross-national perspectives. Some contributors focused on the current state of the art, while others presented historical analyses. All conferences so far have included presentations on the epidemiology of drug use. Over the past decade these have focused increasingly historical and cross-national issues. Concepts such as trend, career, determinant and lifestyle have gained prominence, reflecting the view of many researchers that the simple presentation of local, regional or national prevalence rates is not very interesting from a scholarly point of view. Most conferences explicitly addressed criminological and economic issues. In some years the focus was predominantly on the supply side of the illicit drugs market, whereas in other years more presentations dealt with the demand side and issues such as drug-related crime. Economists analysed the dynamics of the illicit drug market and the comparative costs and benefits of law enforcement and treatment. Morbidity and mortality were discussed at several meetings. Initially, this theme was dominated by presentations on HIV and AIDS. More recently there has been a more general emphasis on harm and harm reduction. Lifestyles and new drugs have also become more important topics over the years. This reflects developments in the illicit drugs market and a growing interest in qualitative (e.g. ethnographic) studies. At a more general level, most conferences also addressed theoretical and methodological issues. Papers were presented on self-report reliability, on the validity of official data on illicit drug use, and on new statistical and data collection methods. The often problematic relationship between policy and research in the field of illicit drugs was also discussed. In recent years concepts like normalisation and problem use have been important issues in theoretical debates. Several conferences included special issues, mostly relating to interventions: prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. Though this may seem at odds with the original aim of the ESSD, intervention was never approached in a predominantly clinical perspective. Emphasis was more on sociological or evaluative research. Gender was a special focus in the at the tenth conference. Gender as well as ethnicity have been on the ESSD agenda in consequent years. While some issues remained relevant every year, others proved time-related and did not survive the whole first decade of the ESSD. What did not change was the active involvement of researchers from various disciplines, sharing a common interest in the social study of illicit drugs.

PUBLICATIONS Selected papers have been published from eight annual conferences1. The two most recent publications have been supported by the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe. 2006 Fountain, J. & Korf, D.J. (eds) (2007) Drugs in society. European perspectives. Oxford: Radciffe Publising. 2004 Kraus, L. & Korf, D.J. (eds) (2005) Research on drugs and drug policy from a European perspective. Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers. (ISBN 3-89967-270-4. To be ordered at www.pabst-publishers.com) 2003 Decorte, T. & Korf, D.J. (eds.) (2004) European studies on drugs and drug policy. Brussels: VUB University Press. (ISBN 90-5487-376-0. Info at www.vubpress.ac.be. To be ordered at: vubpress@vub.ac.be) 1999 Springer, A. & Uhl, A. (eds.) Illicit drugs. Patterns of use patterns of response. Proceedings of the10th annual conference on drug use and drug policy in Europe. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2000. (ISBN 3-7065-1535-0. To be ordered via email: order@studienverlag.at) 1998 Orte Socas, C. & March Cerd, M.X. (eds) The 9th annual conference of drug use and drug policy. Palma de Mallorca, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 2000. (No longer avalailable). 1997 Korf, D.J. & Riper, H. (eds) Illicit drug drugs in Europe. Proceedings of the seventh annual conference on drug use and drug policy. Amsterdam, Bonger Institute/Siswo, 1997. (A limited number of copies available. To be ordered via email: d.j.korf@juva.nl) 1994 Jepsen, J., Laursen, L. & Vangsgaard, P. (eds) Proceedings of the 5th annual conference of drug use and drug policy held in Snderborg, Denmark, September 18-20, 1994. Aarhus, University of Aarhus, 1994. (No longer avalailable) 1992 Neville, J. & Tellier, F. (eds) Proceedings: The third conference on drug use and drug policy. Loughborough, The Midlands Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice, Loughborough University, 1992. (No longer avalailable)

Peer reviewed since 2003.

APPLICATION FOR ESSD MEMBERSHIP / CHANGE OF ADDRESS Membership of the ESSD is free of charge and open to social scientists from the fields of anthropology, criminology, economy, epidemiology, social psychology, social medicine, and social history and sociology. Some degree of participation from other disciplines and nonEuropean countries is permitted. Those who wish to apply for membership are kindly requested to forward the application form to the chairman of the ESSD : University of Amsterdam Faculty of Law, Bonger Institute of Criminology Dr. Dirk J. Korf P.O. Box 1030 NL- 1000 BA Amsterdam Also members who change address, phone, fax or e-mail number are kindly requested to send the new information to the address mentioned above or by e-mail to: d.j.korf@uva.nl -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0 0 Title: Surname(s) Name Full address APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP OF ESSD CHANGE OF ADDRESS . . .. .. .. .. Street City and zip code Country Phone Fax E-mail .. .. .. .. .. ..

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