David B. Cooper

What is a ‘standard drink’? ICAP Report 5

BACKGROUND The practice of standardizing drinks has long been implemented in commercial settings in which alcohol is available. Drink measures poured in licensed premises are used to standardize the volume of a given beverage sold to patrons and are controlled by licensing authorities. Commercial measures of most forms of beverage alcohol often vary from one country to another and are largely shaped by drinking customs. In many European countries, for example, wine is served in decilitre increments, and the British pint and half-pint are the staple servings of draught beer in pubs. Serving sizes of spirits are also often standardized in most industrialized countries.

The Farmington Consensus

Pream ble The purpose of this statement is to de® ne the basis for shared identity, commitment and purpose among journals publishing in the ® eld of psychoactive substance use and associated problems. Our aim is to enhance the quality of our endeavours in this multi-disciplinary ® eld. We share common concerns and believe that we do well to join together in their solution. To that end we accede to this document as a statement of our consensus and as basis for future collaboration.

Understanding Drug Use

This CD-ROM was issued in 1998, and costs

Open Question to Registered Nurses

A50 for an individual subscription, and

Goodbye '97 and hello '98

A1000 for a site licence. The system requirements are: a 740 KB, 75 MHz pentium processor. Windows 95, 4 CD-ROM drive, sound blaster or equivalent, display running at true colour (25 bit) depth, Apple Quicklime for Windows 95 version 2.1.2. (A copy of the correct version of Apple Quicktime is available on the CD-ROM.)

Editorial: Statement from the Editor-in-Chief

Being connected with an international journal has many interesting aspects. One is that people who are, and, perhaps more importantly, are not directly associated with specialist organizations (such as the Association for Nurses in Substance Abuse) often telephone for information, support or guidance concerning how to deal with problems associated with drug and alcohol use. It seems to have become increasingly difficult for nurses to access support and advice in this area of work. It is hard to understand why the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), with over 320,000 registered nurse members, appears to have marginalized drug and alcohol issues. Having one committee member within the RCN Forum for the Development of Mental Health is hardly representative of the extent and nature of the problems associated with alcohol and drug use, or the continued need for education and training required in this area by the nursing profession. Who will monitor the English National Board recommendation that education on alcoho...

If I pretend it does not exist will it go away

For myself, like many of the subscribers to the Journal of Substance Misuse, 1997 has been an eventful year, both professionally and privately, involving many changes, not least to the realization that at such a young and tender age I became a grandfather (Ella Maisy) in early October! As the Journal of Substance Misuse enters its 3rd year, it does not seem so long ago that we held our breath and awaited reaction to the arrival of the first issue. From the feedback, it seems that we are close to achieving our aim of bringing up-to-date information in a readable, reliable and acceptable format. However, we must not be complacent, and we would more than welcome comment from you, good or bad