title: A local and regional Alcohol and Drugs Monitor in the Netherlands: a tale of three cities.
abstract: Local and regional policymakers, care providers and prevention workers involved in addiction and addiction care need timely and reliable information. As few data on substance use are available at a local or regional level, an integrated local or regional monitoring system for alcohol and drugs (MAD) was developed. The MAD consists of four modules: a local social and information map, analyses of registration data of (addiction) care organisations, a local/regional survey among the general population and a community-based drug monitoring system aimed at collecting data on hard drug users. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used. This paper presents an overview of the MAD results with respect to alcohol and illicit drug use. Both quantitative and qualitative results show a substantial variation between regions, even in a country as small as the Netherlands. The study shows that a monitoring system can be an important source of information for local addiction policy, care and prevention.
authors.affiliation: Addiction Research Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van de Mheen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Toet
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Knibbe
authors.forename: H F L
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Garretsen
authors.forename: I P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Spruit
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van den Berg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D011159:Population Surveillance; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs