Winners of the 2018 EMCDDA scientific award were announced by the EU drugs agency today in the margins of its 49th Scientific Committee meeting in Lisbon (1). The acclaimed writers will be invited to Lisbon next autumn to present their articles during the conference Lisbon Addictions 2019, convening from 23–25 October in the Portuguese capital (2).
The prize, inaugurated in 2011 by the EMCDDA and its Scientific Committee, celebrates scientific writing and distinguishes high-quality research in the field of illicit drugs. This year, close to 40 papers were nominated by members of the agency’s Scientific Committee, the Reitox national focal points, drug research societies with a European focus, peer-reviewed scientific journals and by EMCDDA staff. The 2018 winning articles are:
Category 1: Basic biological, neurobiological and behavioural research
‘Blunted ventral striatal responses to anticipated rewards foreshadow problematic drug use in novelty-seeking adolescents’ (2017), first author Professor Dr Christian Büchel (Germany). Co-authors: Peters, J., Banaschewski, T., Bokde, A. L. W., Bromberg, U., Conrod, P.J., Flor, H.,Papadopoulos, D., Garavan, H., Gowland, P., Heinz, A., Walter, H., Ittermann, B., Mann, K., Martinot, J.L, Paillère-Martinot, M.L.,Nees, F., Paus, T., Pausova, Z., Poustka, L., Rietschel, M., Robbins, T.W., Smolka, M.N.,Gallinat, J., Schumann, G.,Knutson, B. and the IMAGEN consortium. Published in Nature Communications, Volume 8 — DOI:10.1038/ncomms14140.
Category 2: Population-based and clinical epidemiology
‘Psychiatric comorbidity and intimate partner violence among women who inject drugs in Europe: a cross-sectional study’ (2017), first author Dr Judit Tirado Muñoz, PhD (Spain). Co-authors: Gilchrist, G., Fischer, G., Taylor, A., Moskalewicz, J., Giammarchi, C., Köchl, B., Munro, A., Dąbrowska,. K., Shaw, A., Di Furia, L., Leeb, I., Hopf, C.and Torrens, M. Published in Archives of Women’s Mental Health, Volume 21, pp. 259–269 — DOI 10.1007/s00737-017-0800-3.
Category 3: Markets and drug cultures
‘Purity, adulteration and price of drugs bought on-line versus off-line in the Netherlands’ (2017), first author Daan van der Gouwe (The Netherlands). Co-authors: Brunt, T.M., van Laar, M. and van der Pol, P. Published in Addiction, Volume 112, pp. 640–648 — DOIdoi.org/10.1111/add.13720.
Category 4: Demand reduction interventions
‘Does exposure to opioid substitution treatment in prison reduce the risk of death after release? A national prospective observational study in England’ (2017), first author Professor John Marsden (United Kingdom). Co-authors: Stillwell, G., Jones, H., Cooper, A., Eastwood, B., Farrell, M., Lowden, T., Maddalena, N., Metcalfe, C., Shaw, J. and Hickman, M. Published in Addiction, Volume 112, pp. 1408–1418 — DOI: doi.org/10.1111/add.13779.
Category 5: Drug policy and supply reduction interventions
‘Assessing the impact of laws controlling the online availability of 25I-NBOMe, AH-7921, MDPV and MXE — outcomes of a semi-automated e-shop monitoring’ (2017), first author Vendula Belackova, PhD (Czech Republic). Co-authors: Pazitny, M., Drapalova, E., Martinez, M., van der Gouwe, D., Begley, E., Kidawa, M., Tomkova, A. and Kmetonynova, D. Published in Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, Volume 25, pp. 109–117 — DOI: doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2016.1275526.
Chair of the EMCDDA Scientific Committee Dr Anne Line Breteville-Jensen says: ‘The EMCDDA and its Scientific Committee are pleased to announce the EMCDDA scientific award winners for 2018. At a time when Europe is facing new drug-related challenges, which affect the health and security of its citizens, the award showcases innovation in addressing drug problems and highlights research gaps to help improve policy and practice. We congratulate this year’s winners and shortlisted authors on their positive contribution to our knowledge base in this field.’
