Breaking Bad,Making Good: Notes on a Televisual Tourist Industry

This article explores emerging intersections between the consumption of mediated popular culture and the real and imagined topographies within which those representations are framed. Through an examination of the ‘televisual tourism’ centred around the successful TV series Breaking Bad, we scrutinise the multiple modes of sensorial and embodied travel experience enjoyed by fans of the show as they consume their way around the show’s sites, scenes and tastes in the city of Albuquerque. This exploitation of media textuality through fan tourism is, we suggest, centred upon a carefully managed commodification of crime, criminality and transgression.     

Employment-Based Training on Alcohol and Other Drugs in England: Bridging the Gap

The first of its kind in England, this study explored the extent and nature of employer-based training on alcohol and other drugs for social workers working in children's and adults' services. A national survey of workforce development departments was undertaken to find out how social workers are being prepared by their employers for engaging with people who use alcohol and other drugs. Based on a response rate of 46%, the findings show that a majority of departments (82%) provided training on these issues in the year 2011–2012. However, most of this training was not mandatory. These courses are targeted most often at those working in children's services rather than those in adults' services. Most courses are offered at basic or intermediary level, and content of training is covered inconsistently. These findings suggest a need to increase the priority of alcohol and other drugs' training across adults' services in particular and to make this training mandatory, as well as ensuring that staff have adequate time and incentive to attend. Effectiveness of social care practice for all social care practitioners around alcohol and other drugs use could be improved with more focus on training practitioners how to talk to service users about their substance use.     

Returning to Normality: Substance Users' Work Histories and Perceptions of Work During and After Recovery

Correspondence to Andreas Cebulla, National Centre for Social Research, 35 Northampton Square, London EC1V 0AX, UK. E-mail: a.cebulla{at}natcen.ac.uk Summary New service provisions designed to improve the employment prospectsof former substance users will enhance the roles and responsibilitiesof Drug Action Teams (DATs), Jobcentre Plus offices and otherproviders and co-ordinators of support services for substanceusers. This paper discusses the findings of a study of 30 currentand former drug and alcohol users, exploring past substanceuse histories and current employment aspirations. The researchinforms new policy initiatives designed to assist substanceusers’ entry or return to work. Differences in presentperceptions of work-readiness were observed, which reflectedusers’ perceptions of the nature of their addiction. Theattribution of blame for the substance dependency to either‘the drug’ or the individual’s psychologywas a critical influence on users’ work-readiness assessments.Work was perceived to benefit recovery from substance dependency.The evidence suggests that substance users’ return towork might be helped by their staged (re-) introduction to thelabour market as well as encouraging the primary labour marketto employ (more) recovering substance users. The research highlightedthe need for joint working between employment services and DATsto help substance users into work and to support their recovery.It also highlighted the need for mutual understanding and recognitionof each collaborator’s expertise.     

冷战中的合作:美国与联合国《1961年麻醉品单一公约》的修正(1969—1975)

面对罂粟和大麻非法种植,特别是海洛因非法生产和贩运的不断扩张,美国政府力图进一步完善麻醉品的国际管制。它从最初希望制定新的鸦片公约,到选择提出《1961年麻醉品单一公约》修正案,再到美国国务院通过寻求国际合作,借助麻醉品委员会、经社理事会和联合国大会积极吁请,最终成功地推动《修正麻醉品单一公约的议定书》的通过和正式生效。这不仅是美国毒品外交成功运作的例证,而且是国际社会通过合作强化全球禁毒体系的重要见证,更是冷战趋向缓和的一个缩影。     

‘If drugs does that to you,then I don't want it.’ Resiliency among non-marijuana using adolescents

The current study utilizes an asset-based approach to examine inner-city African-American and Latino adolescent non-marijuana use. Interview findings suggest that the common theme in adolescent narratives is why they avoid marijuana use. Specifically, adolescents formulate several reasons situated in their perceptions of self, peers, and parents to avoid marijuana use. Drawing on resiliency theory and to broaden our scope of inquiry, we utilize these findings to further delve into the relationship between perceptions of self, peer communication, parental monitoring, and marijuana use avoidance utilizing survey data analysis. Findings can be used to leverage prevention programs with this population.     

Informed Consent and Investigational New Drug Abuses in the U.S. Military

Objective: The focal point of this investigation was to research the ethical issues surrounding the military's requests for informed consent waivers when using investigational drugs, and the recent debate surrounding the anthrax vaccine as an investigational new drug (IND). Design: The military's management of the informed consent process was examined using documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Institutional Review Board (IRB) minutes, consent forms, legal pleadings, and protocols for specific investigational drugs. Results: In December 1990, prior to Operation Desert Storm, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) granted the Department of Defense (DoD) an unprecedented waiver to the federally mandated informed-consent requirement for the use of investigational drugs. However, the waiver approval was conditional, and the FDA insisted on several safeguards. Partially in response to the subsequent Gulf War Syndrome debate, the FDA recently evaluated the military's use of investigational drugs during the Gulf War. The FDA cited the military for significant deviations from the originally approved protocols. Most notably, the military was found to be abusing the IRB process by convening a second IRB when the first IRB concluded that waiving informed consent was unethical. In addition, there was a gross lack of documentation and no monitoring of adverse reactions. The DoD's plan to use the current anthrax vaccine on all 2.4 million troops against inhalation anthrax has kindled an additional investigational drug controversy. The safety and efficacy of the use of the anthrax vaccine as a prophylactic against inhalation anthrax have been questioned by both military and medical organizations. There have never been any published studies of human efficacy or long-term effects for the anthrax vaccine. In addition, the military is not using the vaccine for its intended purpose, and it is also not adhering to prescribed dosing schedules. There is clear evidence to support the claim that, in fact, the military's use of the anthrax vaccine should be considered experimental. Conclusions: I argue that in medical situations, the military is obligated to treat its troops as autonomous persons entitled to basic rights and protections. The DoD is currently using an approved drug, the anthrax vaccine, for an unapproved purpose and in an unapproved manner. In doing so, the DoD is not only violating the FDA's regulations against such practices, it is also violating an executive order which only allows the president to authorize the use of INDs on service members without their consent.     

Using pharmacological aids to improve waking function and sleep while working at night

Non-refreshing or insufficient sleep, and impaired alertness on the job, are two nearly universal consequences of night work. The effects of drugs upon the sleep and alertness of night workers has only recently been studied and much work remains to be done. To date, it is clear that sleep during the day can be improved with sedative-hypnotic compounds, particularly the benzodiazepines. Despite improvement in sleep, alertness at night is improved only mildly, if at all, with short-acting sleeping agents and can be further impaired with long-acting drugs. The limited research examining alertness and performance during night shift hours after administration of CNS stimulants suggests significant benefits. The judicious use of CNS stimulants in this way needs further exploration. Precise pharmacological manipulation of the endogenous sleep/wake rhythm is primarily theoretical at this time but should be pursued.     

The Nature and Extent of Substance Use Education in Qualifying Social Work Programmes in England

Alcohol and other drug (AOD) use is a common feature of modern social work practice. Concerns about the problematic use of such substances cross all areas of social work practice, including adults' and children's social care. In England, surveys have highlighted social workers' experiences of AOD education during their qualifying social work training. However, this study sought the perspectives of the social work educators. Its primary aim was to explore the nature and extent of education on AODs on the qualifying social work programmes in England. Using an online survey tool, all qualifying social work programme leads were invited to take part (n = 157). Fewer than half responded (40%, n = 63). Initial findings appeared positive suggesting that 94% of responding qualifying programmes provided some teaching and learning on AODs. Further analysis revealed significant variation in what is taught and the depth of coverage. It highlighted a lack of consistency across programmes and possible over-reporting. However, the majority of respondents felt that teaching and learning on AOD use should be a higher priority for their qualifying social work programmes.     

Substance Use and Disabilities: Experiences of Adults' Social Care Professionals and the Implications for Education and Training

This paper draws on data from a national survey of social workers and social care practitioners in England undertaken in 2010–2011. It focuses on practitioners working in services for adults with either learning or physical disabilities and, in particular, their experiences of responding to alcohol and other drug use among their service users. Based on secondary analysis of survey and focus group data from the earlier study, the paper outlines the extent to which workers in these areas of practice encounter alcohol and drug problems and discusses the key challenges this poses for them. The findings show that between 4% and 10% of adults' practitioners' service users have alcohol and drug problems depending on the nature of the disability. Regardless of the type of disability, practitioners reported difficulties in talking about substance use with their service users as well as identifying tensions around life-style choice and risk management. They also reported the need for education and training in a number of areas. Social work education and subsequent training in working with substance use problems needs to be available to adults' practitioners and it needs to address the specific issues and needs in different areas of social work practice.     

Mental Models in Risk Assessment: Informing People About Drugs

One way to communicate about the risks of drugs is through the use of package inserts. The problems associated with this medium of informing patients have been investigated by several researchers who found that people require information about drugs they are using, including extensive risk information, and that they are willing to take this information into account in their usage of drugs. But empirical results also show that people easily misinterpret the information given. A conceptual framework is proposed that might be used for better understanding the cognitive processes involved in such a type of risk assessment and communication. It is based on the idea that people develop, through experience, a mental model of how a drug works, which effects it might produce, that contraindications have to be considered, etc. This mental model is "run" when a specific package insert has been read and a specific question arises such as, for example, whether certain symptoms can be explained as normal or whether they require special attention and action. We argue that the mental model approach offers a useful perspective for examining how people understand package inserts, and consequently for improving their content and design. The approach promises to be equally useful for other aspects of risk analysis that are dependent upon human judgment and decision making, e.g., threat diagnosis and human reliability analysis.