Citation
Klein, A. (2015), "Directions for 2015", Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 15 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/DAT-01-2015-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Directions for 2015
Article Type: Editorial From: Drugs and Alcohol Today, Volume 15, Issue 1
In the coming year we are planning to continue carving out a special place for DAT as a journal where the interests of practitioners, policy makers and researchers converge. We will continue to provide a space where drug field professionals can reflect on their experience in an open, critical and constructive way. To that end we have always invited reflections on the practitioner experience as well as the findings from research projects. Part of that ambition has been to restore the voice of the drug and service user which are mostly silent in the wider policy debates.
Over the course of 2015 we will therefore feature papers from users perspective, beginning with a comparison on services for Danish and Swedish users in the current issue. The lead coordinator on this theme is Russell Newcombe and prospective contributors are invited to contact him directly if they wish to discuss at: mailto:russell@newcombe666.freeserve.co.uk..
Incorporating the user's voice in a broader analysis of the different constituencies that make up the field is the focus on “Stakeholder” which is led by Vibeke Asmussen: mailto:va@crf.au.dk.. Contributions will be bundled into special issues or special sections of a particular issue. We will also run these features over consecutive issues to maintain the momentum of a discussion.
DAT has over the years published a number of practitioner papers, but they come almost exclusively from the treatment field. Education is often neglected, possibly because it is so difficult to measure and gets caught up in the moral debates about what messages to send out. A special section is therefore planned for later this year and is being put together by Blaine Stothard: mailto:blaine@healthed.demon.co.uk
Given the recent interest in new psychoactive substances and the publication of several reports by the Advisory council on the misuse of drugs, it seems appropriate to dedicate more space to the evolving debate. A dedicated section is planned for later and led by Fiona Measham: mailto:f.measham@durham.ac.uk..
Long overdue in the pages of DAT is an issue dedicated to gender. We are therefore looking forward to a section addressing some of the particular problems experienced by problematic female users and on the way that policies and services are structured. Polly Radcliffe is taking the lead on this topic: mailto:p.radcliffe@bbk.ac.uk..
In the run up to the United Nations Special Session on Drugs in 2016 and with elections in the UK, policy will always be an important feature and coordinated by the editorial team. Keeping the most important news till last, we wanted to announce that in 2015 Blaine Stothard will be taking on a more active role as co-editor.
His assistance will be sorely needed as the pagination of the journal is being extended, a reflection of the success of the title and the confidence of the publishers. This year, then, we are hoping to bring out seven papers per issue, expand the book review section, continue with the regular column “Round up” and revive the “Legal Eye”.
It is going to be a busy year and we are committed to providing quality contributions to the key debates in the addiction and drug and alcohol fields. Please keep the contributions coming.
Axel Klein