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Aims This paper describes the current situation regarding gambling in Singapore in relation to its historical and cultural context. Methods A computerized search was performed of two databases (PubMed and PsychINFO) and the reference lists from the papers searched manually to identify relevant studies. The findings were synthesized and their implications assessed. Results In addition to state lotteries and much informal gambling, Singapore has two large resort casinos, which rank third after Las Vegas and Macau in terms of gross revenues. The major ethnic subgroups in Singapore have different cultural connections to gambling, including the active involvement of the Chinese and religious prohibition among the Malay. A range of secondary prevention and treatment services has been developed to attempt to minimize potential negative impacts. Overall, the prevalence of pathological gambling and problem gambling has decreased in recent years: an estimated 0.2% are classified as probable pathological gamblers compared with 1.4% in 2011, 1.2% in 2008 and 2.1% in 2005. Conclusions Singapore has experienced a reduction in problem gambling prevalence which may reflect the influence of multiple initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This paper reviews the early work of Griffith Edwards and his colleagues on alcohol in the criminal justice system and outlines the direction of research in this area in the Addiction Research Unit in the 1960s and 1970s. The paper outlines the link between that work and work undertaken in the more recent past in this area. Methods The key papers of the authors are reviewed and the impact of this work on policy and practice is discussed. Conclusions There is a rich seam of work on deprived and incarcerated populations that has been under way at the Addiction Research Unit and subsequently the National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London. Griffith Edwards initiated this work that explores the risks and problems experienced by people moving between the health and criminal justice system, and demonstrated the need for better care and continuity across this system [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This paper has as its focus a study tour made by the author in 1961. Diary notes are used to capture a historical moment in the evolution of alcohol studies. The paper will argue for the continuing value today of such experiences in support of career development and the building of ‘the field’. Data sources Diary notes and personal recollection. Findings The United States was at the time more active than the United Kingdom in its response to alcohol problems. There was, however, a disjunction between the elite American research world and the world of action, which was not informed greatly by research. For the most part, treatment services and prevention strategies seemed driven by opinion rather than by evidence. But at the level of serious scientific endeavour there was opportunity to meet influential figures including Seldon Bacon, Morris Chafetz, Milton Gross, Ebbe Curtis Hoff, Harris Isbell, E. M. Jellinek, Mark Keller, Benjamin Kissen, Robert Strauss, Wolf Schmidt and Abraham Wikler, who generously made their time available. Conclusions These diary notes provide a snapshot of a field of endeavour at a critical stage of transition from uninformed assumptions towards establishment of a research base which can inform public action. The visit was of tangible value to the visitor in several different identified ways. Such an experience is inevitably time-bound and personal, but there are general conclusions to be drawn as to the benefits which will be derived from early travel opportunities in a field such as alcohol studies, which is all too easily culture-bound in its horizons and assumptions. Alcohol science needs to be more reflective on its history and the mechanisms that help to make it happen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper puts the role of research into perspective in the policy-making context. It points out that there are differing 'policy' goals of government and the use of research might be vital for one element, e.g. health policy, but of lesser significance in, say, international policy. The paper then goes on to describe case studies of where research has had a major impact on government decision making in Australia in the past 2 years, notably in the area of proposed changes to the marketing and sale of alcoholic beverages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a reply by the authors of an article on policy options for alcohol price regulation, to comments on it. They point out that the response to their paper has been twofold, with sections like the media, industry an policy makers focusing either on methodological issues, or on the impacts that the changes are likely to make. The arguments of several critics are discussed and concluded that it makes for an ambitious and exciting program of future research.