Research on Mephedrone prohibition wins a prestigious scientific award from the EMCDDA

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Winning research in free access in Drugs and Alcohol Today

United Kingdom, 15 November 2011 – Emerald Group Publishing Limited is delighted to announce that "Tweaking, bombing, dabbing and stockpiling: the emergence of mephedrone and the perversity of prohibition", by Fiona Measham, Karenza Moore, Russell Newcombe, Zoë (née Smith), and published inDrugs and Alcohol Today, won a scientific paper award from the EU Drugs Agency, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), on 14 November 2011. To celebrate this recognition, Emerald is offering free access toDrugs and Alcohol Today, including this article, until the end of 2011. Visitwww.emeraldinsight.com/dat.htmwithusername:EMCDDA2011andpassword:emerald

In the paper, the authors argue that a reduction in the availability (and thus purity) of illegal drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine and resultant disillusionment among users was a key motivation for displacement to substituted cathinones, such as Mephedrone, conveniently and [at the time of the research] legally purchased online. The authors also explore the policy considerations around the criminalisation of substituted cathinones [before this took place in the UK] and the challenge of providing rapid yet considered harm reduction responses to emergent drug trends in the face of a minimal scientific evidence base and eager press demonisation.

The paper was judged to enhance understanding of the European drugs problem and was acclaimed last night in an award ceremony hosted by the EMCDDA.

Commenting on the initiative, EMCDDA Director Wolfgang Götz said: ‘Our Scientific Committee provides a strong voice for scientific standards and I welcome its initiative for lauding papers of merit in our field of drugs and drug addiction. Ensuring that the findings of European research are made available to the policy and practice community is an important issue. I hope this award will become a useful channel for disseminating these results’.

The paper originally appeared in Volume 10, Issue 1 ofDrugs and Alcohol Today. Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited, the journal aims to bring readers the best in new thinking in drugs and alcohol practice, focusing on patterns of drug and alcohol use, developments in treatment and early interventions, drugs and the criminal justice system, service user involvement, as well as local, national and international drug policy.

For more information, visitwww.emeraldinsight.com/dat.htmor contact Jo Sharrocks, Publisher, atjsharrocks@emeraldinsight.com

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About the EMCDDA awards

The EMCDDA Scientific paper award has been established to celebrate scientific writing in this key area of concern to EU citizens. The winners were selected from over 50 eligible entries, from 13 countries by a jury consisting of members of the EMCDDA Scientific Committee and scientific staff on the criteria of: scientific significance; EU policy relevance; originality and creativity; and clarity and quality of writing.

The importance of scientific publishing has been underlined regularly by the Scientific Committee and this prize reflects this. Abstracts of the winning papers will be available online in English, along with translations in German, French and Portuguese in an effort to share findings in non-English speaking countries.

For more on the award and abstracts of the other winning papers, seewww.emcdda.europa.eu

About Emerald

www.emeraldinsight.com

With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 770 titles, comprising 275 journals, over 375 books and more than 120 book series as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.

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