To reduce the personal, social and economic costs of road accidents caused by drink driving, a wide variety of countermeasures have been tried. However, the problem facing policy makers has been to find measures that are effective deterrents to drink driving, yet cause minimal inconvenience to the driver population as a whole. This paper presents an overview and discussion of those countermeasures which are aimed at modifying driver behaviour.

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Evidence suggests that there are six major issues which influence the inappropriate use of prescription medicine. This paper presents the current debate with particular reference to the situation in Australia. The article concludes with a discussion of issues which must be addressed when attempting to formulate remedial strategies, and highlights the research needs and opportunities in this area.

Systematic screening of patients for areas of health risk in their lifestyle has much potential for primary health care clinicians as a cost‐effective and time saving means to identify ‘at risk’ individuals. In the area of alcohol and drug problems, such early identification increases the likelihood of successful intervention. The present study, conducted at a general practice unit, compared the use of a computer to screen for alcohol and drug use with the two more traditional assessment methods of face‐to‐face interview and paper and pencil questionnaire. It was found that levels of reported consumption were similar across assessment methods. Although the interview method was strongly preferred overall, patients' preference for the computer increased significantly after use. The computer was also found to be more acceptable to patients reporting non‐medical drug use, a potentially threatening and sensitive issue. There was a low refusal rate and most patients were willing to allow their doctor to see the assessment results. This indicates that screening for alcohol and drug use is acceptable to general practice patients, and that the computer can play a useful role as a prevention aid.

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