The 30th Annual European Society for Social Drug Research Conference is hosted in Riga

The main focus of the conference presentations is the investigation of illicit substances in the social context of our societies. The research presented has utilised various innovative qualitative and mixed methodologies. As part of the conference the Early Career Researcher Award will also be awarded.

This years programme consists of 30 speakers on various interesting topics. These include the control of illicit substance policy development in European countries, recent developments in the use and dissemination of drugs, research methods and theory changes, as well as various prevention approach analyses.

Thematically several speakers have focused on cannabis. This focus includes investigation of the overall trends and specific narrow topics, such as festival cultures in different countries, medical cannabis use links with stigma, and the creation of the legal cannabis industries. The harm associated with drugs has also remained relevant and so, speakers will focus on this in the context of the changing political discourses surrounding the harm minimisation paradigm, varied harm minimisation intervention strategies and their effects on specific user groups.

Simultaneously, presentations that focus on the practicalities and theory development in the context of social drug research are also represented. These include the discussion on how does the researcher’s own experience with drug use effect their research, new approaches to interview analysis and their potential problems when interpreting correlations.

The full conference programme is available here.

The information on the European Society for Social Drug Research association and its organisers as well as other events is available here.