Glossary

ISSUP would like to thank Scottish Drugs Forum for their work and agreement for their Glossary to be offered on the ISSUP website. It is available to view on the Scottish Drugs Forum website.

A

Abstinence
Addict
Addiction
Addictive
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Advocacy
Alcohol abuse
Alcohol and other drugs
Alcoholic
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholism
Assets-based approach

B

Better than well

C

Chaotic lifestyles
Chemsex
Clean
Could happen to anyone

D

Dependency
Drug abuse
Drug Demand Reduction
Drug free
Drug of choice
Drug, set and setting
Drug-related deaths

E

Expert by experience

G

Gateway drug
Giving something back

H

Hard to reach
Harm reduction
Heroin assisted treatment

I

IEP
Image and performance enhancing drugs

J

Journey metaphors
Just say no

L

Lifestyle choices
Lived experience

M

Medication-assisted treatment

O

Opiate substitution treatment
Optimal dosing

P

Parked on methadone
Peer workers
People-first language
Personal narratives
Polysubstance use
Poverty
Pro and anti drug
Problem substance use

R

Rat Park
Recovery
Recovery movement
Recovery-oriented system of care
Recreational drug use
Rehabilitation
Relapse
Rock bottom

S

Self-medicating
Stigma
Substance abuse

T

The British system
The disease model
The ‘J’ word
Tolerance
Trauma
Treatment

U

User involvement

V

Vietnam veterans studies

W

War on Drugs

The topic of substance use, prevention, treatment, and recovery support, along with related areas, presents a considerable difficulty when it comes to terminology. There exists a substantial number of words and phrases that demand a shared understanding, many of which spark intense debates regarding their meaning. Attempting to create a comprehensive glossary that satisfies everyone's input is a challenging task. Instead of starting from scratch, we have chosen to endorse and provide the glossary developed by the Scottish Drugs Forum, which has already been established and recognised.