Uniting top academics, researchers, and practitioners, this contributed volume offers new perspectives on the meaning, role, and history of addiction in our society and the construction of illicit drug use as a social problem. This substantially revised second edition provides an authoritative focus on policy issues that will extend and enrich the education and on-going discussion of addiction within the social work community.
New to the second edition:

• discusses the intersection of substance abuse and intimate partner violence in the lives of women seeking help
• examines drug use, addiction, and the criminal justice system and how these intersect to further disadvantage those held prisoner by these challenges
• recognizes the real significance of addiction for those Canadians struggling with homelessness and mental health issues
• examines adolescent substance abuse
• considers how some aspects of specific cultures can help prevent addiction
• explores male and female differences in individual and group treatment
• questions the belief that graduates of Canada's schools of social work have the competency to be addiction counsellors

Rick Csiernik is a Professor at King’s University College, Western University. He has authored and edited several Canadian Scholars textbooks: Wellness and Work (2005); Responding to the Oppression of Addiction (co-edited with William S. Rowe, 2017, third edition); Substance Use and Abuse (2016, second edition); and Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Health (co-edited with Cheryl Forchuk and Elsabeth Jensen, 2011) . He has written more than 95 journal articles, and some of his research interests include addiction, Workplace Wellness, social work, and spirituality. He has consecutively been included on the King’s University College Honour Roll of Teaching, and is a recipient of the Instructor Appreciation Award at McMaster University.

Rick Csiernik's profile page

William Rowe is Professor of Social Work at the University of South Florida and holds cross-appointments at the Moffitt Cancer Center, the College of Public Health and the AIDS Training and Education Center also at the University of South Florida. Dr. Rowe has authored over 130 academic and professional works and has provided lectures and seminars in over 30 countries.

William S. Rowe's profile page