Part I contains nine chapters that address alcohol surveys and their problems. It begins with a description of alcohol, tobacco, and drug surveys in Poland, followed by a chapter that reviews the role of surveys in collecting data related to alcohol consumption. This focuses on methods and problems that are relevant in showing the shape of the distribution of alcohol consumption and in identifying heavy drinkers. The comparability and defects of survey methods are reviewed more thoroughly in another chapter, based primarily on alcohol survey material from Iceland and other Nordic countries. In the next chapter, the system of collecting information on alcoholism and alcohol problems in the Soviet Union, along with the difficulties of achieving comparability, are discussed. Remaining chapters in Part I address the measurement of problems in community surveys, how to measure alcohol-related problems among youth in community surveys, and the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and the harmful consequence of drinking. The six chapters in Part II consider the patterns of drug use and policy implications. One chapter elaborates on non-survey methods for ascertaining patterns of drug use, and another chapter presents the results of two Greek surveys of licit and illicit substance use and related problems. Other chapters in Part II address user careers and their implications for the prevention of drug misuse, the etiological theories that have been advanced to explain drug- related behavior, and the implications of these theories for public policy and prevention. Chapter references and tables and a subject index