The research in this book on the geographical context of drug addiction contributes to better understanding the etiology of addiction, its diffusion, its interaction with geographically variable environmental, social, and economic factors, and the strategies for its treatment and prevention. This book explores links between geography and drug abuse and identifies research ideas, connections, and research pathways which point to some promising avenues for future work in this area.

The topics explored in Geography and Drug Addiction include: (1) Spatial patterns of drug use and addiction. (2) Linking spatial models with drug abuse research. (3) Interaction of social and environmental factors with biochemical processes of addiction. (4) Locational analyses of drug addiction treatment and service delivery facilities. (5) Neighborhood scale studies of geographic factors (including the built environment) and their interaction with drug addiction, treatment, or prevention. (6) Use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to better understanding and respond to drug addiction. (7) Spatial diffusion modeling of addictive drug usage and its changing characteristics, including also predictive modeling. (8) Social epidemiology and GIS.

This book is an outcome of the jointly sponsored AAG/NIDA Geography and Drug Symposium. It will serve as an excellent resource to geographers and drug abuse researchers, including sociologists, epidemiologists, social scientists in general and public health researchers, both in policy and academia.