To avoid misunderstanding, it is desirable to specify here a meaning of reduction which we shall not consider in the following. ’Reduction’ has been used (especially by logical positivists) to denote the claim that a scientific theory can be expressed entirely in terms of observation statements, or, weaker, that all theoretical terms of a theory can be so expressed. We make no such claims and s...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The Study on the Development of an EU Framework for Minimum Quality Standards and Benchmarks in Drug Demand Reduction (EQUS) has set up an inventory of quality standards and initiated a consensus-building process, aiming at establishing a set of European minimum quality standards (MQS) for treatment/rehabilitation and harm reduction in the field of drug abuse and dependence. M...