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Background: The correction-based therapeutic community (TC) is one of the most described treatment modalities for (substance abusing) incarcerated offenders. The origins and development of the therapeutic community have been traced back to two independent traditions: the American hierarchical concept-based TC and the British democratic Maxwell Jones-type TC. Both branches have developed independently, targeting different people and tackling diverse problems. Aims: To demonstrate that there are clear and undeniable similarities between the 'two' prison-based therapeutic communities. Method: A comparative historical review of the literature and a critical discussion and comparison. Results: The links between the democratic and hierarchical therapeutic communities are summarised under five headings: social learning and behavioural modification; permissiveness and modelling; democracy and hierarchy; communalism and community as method; reality testing and 'acting as if'. Conclusions: The 'two' correction-based therapeutic communities are on converging pathways. Far from being oppositional models, they can be regarded as being complementary. Key words: corrections, substance abuse, therapeutic community

An understanding of addiction as a complex disorder involving biological/physiological, psychological, sociocultural, and socioeconomic elements is well established as a foundation for good practice in treatment interventions. More recently, we have begun to view recovery from this disorder as being reliant upon a realignment of all these elements within the context of a sustained structure of encouragement and support rather than as an illness that will respond to a short, time-limited intervention such as treatment. Drug treatment-seeking populations have been rigorously researched, and we know much about their journey toward and through treatment and even into post treatment. However, nontreatment-seeking populations are far less well known, and we know almost nothing about their experiences of long-term recovery. What is known is that "natural" recovery from even the most serious episodes of addiction is widespread, perhaps even commonplace. In Europe, the majority of these natural recovery episodes appear to take place outside formal treatment and even in defiance of the injunctions and advice of treatment providers. Understanding this process of natural remission and the structures or elements that both make remission possible and sustain it over the long term will help to identify the most critical aspects of treatment interventions in general and after-care processes in particular. This chapter reviews the history of recovery movements, the implications of the accepted theories of addiction, and argues for the need to create communities of recovery in order to limit the intergenerational transmission of addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The therapeutic community (TC) in the United Kingdom was built out of a merging of the democratic TC tradition pioneered by Maxwell Jones and others immediately after the Second World War and after the American drug-free TC originating in the Synanon experiment in the late 1950s. This latter tradition traces its roots back through the mutual-aid fellowship Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This article examines how AA principles were adapted for the TC and how this new approach impacted upon the early drug treatment network in the United Kingdom. The evidence base for TC methodology is briefly described along with a short analysis of the marginalization of the approach in the past two decades and the future possibilities for modified TCs for special populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that French drug squad officers found several dogs killed during the Teknival, an annual rave festival held at Chavanne, France. The dogs' bellies were sliced open, leading the authorities to speculate that they were used to smuggle drugs through the tight perimeter fence security.

The article comments on the newspaper coverage given to survey on cocaine use by schoolchildren. "The Times," "The Daily Telegraph," and "The Daily Mirror" expressed shock and horror at the doubling of cocaine use by young children. But a careful look at the sample size and the actual figures reveal that the number of schoolchildren who have used cocaine increased by 0.5% and did not double as claimed by the newspapers. The issue is made more complicated by the fact that the schoolchildren--and newspapers--lie.

The article reports the U.S. response to a new Mexican law that relaxes drug possession regulations. The new law intends to allow the police to concentrate on apprehending violent drug traffickers and dealers. Predictably, the U.S. gave a heated and outraged response. The reaction could very well kill the new law as Mexican President Vicente Fox has yet to sign it.

The article reports the resurrection of the debate on the classification of drug addiction or dependence during the preparation of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V (DSM-V). A recent article published in the "American Journal of Psychiatry" argued for the reinstatement of addiction as the standard term. The authors of the article cited an incident wherein the doctor refused medication for physically dependent patients, wrongly diagnosed as addicts.

This article offers world news briefs. British troops was deployed to Helmand province in Afghanistan to control opium trade. Reports of high strength heroin were increasingly being seized in Scotland. The 2006 Winter Games organized by the Norsk Forum for Terapeutiske Samfunn, have kicked off in Norway.

Presents news briefs concerning alcohol and drug use as of December 2005. Plan of Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding alcohol-related public health in the country; Refusal by several U.S. television stations to broadcast "The Book of Daniel," a mini-series based on the life of Daniel Webster, a priest who was addicted to prescription painkillers; Dismissal of officers working with CICPC, the drugs investigation force of Venezuela.