BASIC ASPECTS AND RESEARCH 1. Is addiction a chronic relapsing disease? 2. In it for the long haul: recovery capital, addiction theory and the inter-generational transmission of addictive behaviour 3. Self-Medication and addictions 4. Promoting Best Practice in the drug addiction field: the EMCDDA experience 5. Chronobiology and addiction: implications for treatment and prevention SEX DIFFERENCES 6. Biological bases of sex diff erences in drug addiction 7. Female polydrug abuse and psychopathology Gender differences: an overview 8. Th e impact of motherhood on recovery Lessons we can learn from the treatment journeys of mothers with problematic substance misuse issues THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITIES 9. Quality of life in therapeutic communities for substance abuse 10. The essential elements of treatment: a European therapeutic communities perspective 11. MECETT, the journeymen model transferred to staff training in TCs 12. The reasons for the rise and fall of the Bremberg empire SOCIAL AND POLITIC FACTORS 13. The United Nations and drug demand reduction policies