Global Issues in Volatile Substance Misuse

Abstract

This special issue of Substance Use & Misuse addresses the public health issue of volatile substance misuse (VSM), the inhalation of gases or vapors for psychoactive effects, assessing the similarities and differences in the products misused, patterns, prevalence, etiologies, and impacts of VSM by examining it through sociocultural epidemiology, neuroscience, and interventions research. The Canadian, US, and Australian guest editors contend that, when compared with other drugs used at a similar prevalence, VSM has attracted relatively little research effort. The authors and editors call for further research to develop evidence-based policies and comprehensive interventions that respect culture and context-specific knowledge.

Keywords :

• volatile substance misuse
• inhalants
• sociocultural epidemiology
• neuroscience
• interventions
• context-specific knowledge
• huffing
• cuffing
• chroming
• bagging

THE AUTHORS

Colleen Anne Dell, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Research Chair in Substance Abuse at the University of Saskatchewan in the Department of Sociology and School of Public Health. She is also a Senior Research Associate with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Canada's national addictions agency. Her research is grounded in a community-based participatory approach. Her research interests include the relationship between identity and healing from drug addiction, substance abuse programming, self-harm among women and girls, the connection between youth resiliency and volatile substance misuse, and equine assisted learning as a healing approach to addictions. Her research areas are specific to Aboriginal populations, criminalized women, and drug using populations. She has worked extensively at the community and national levels.

Steven W. Gust, Ph.D., has led the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) International Program since 1999, where he directs the institute's efforts to foster rigorous collaborative and peer-reviewed international research and promotes cooperation between NIDA and other US agencies, foreign governments, and international, regional, and nongovernmental organizations. Dr. Gust oversees research capacity building through fellowship, scientific exchange, and online initiatives. From 1994 to 1999, Dr. Gust served as Deputy and Acting Director of the NIDA Office on AIDS, where he was responsible for one-third of the NIDA budget and brought national and international attention to the connections between drug use and HIV, highlighting the critical links between risky behaviors and HIV infection; the contributions of behavioral and social science to understanding transmission, disease progression, prevention, and treatment; and the impact of drug user treatment, outreach, and needle exchange programs in reducing HIV risk. Dr. Gust joined NIDA in 1986 in the Clinical and Behavioral Pharmacology Branch, Division of Clinical Research. He was a 1993 congressional fellow, has served on the Surgeon General's Advisory Group on the Health Effects of Smokeless Tobacco; the Transportation Research Board Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Transportation; and the White House Health Care Reform Task Force.

Sarah MacLean, Ph.D., is a sociologist with sustained interest in analyzing and contributing to the development of health and welfare policy, particularly as it affects marginalized and young people, and users of alcohol and other drugs. In 2007 Sarah completed her Ph.D. research, a qualitative and interpretive study of the meanings of inhalant use and of associated policy and intervention in Australia. In 2008 Dr. MacLean co-authored a review of interventions into VSM with Associate Professor Peter d'Abbs. The review was published by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing as part of the National Drug Strategy Monograph series. She is currently employed as Research Fellow in Alcohol and Drug Studies at the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and the University of Melbourne in Australia. She is now working on an Australian Research Council Linkage Project investigating cultures that influence alcohol use by young Australians.