Prof Spencer De Li of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, has been re-elected president of the Asian Association for Substance Abuse Research (AASAR) for a three-year term. Established in 2013, AASAR is the leading international association in Asia dedicated to substance abuse research. Its mission is to promote scientific research and evidence-based prevention and treatment policies for substance abuse in Asia. Members of the association include scholars and researchers, government officials, medical practitioners, volunteers, and college students.
Under the leadership of Prof Li and with the funding from the Macao SAR government, AASAR has designed and implemented several large-scale social survey projects on substance abuse in Macao, including a 2014 Tracking Study of Students and Drugs and a 2018 Tracking Study of Students and Drugs. For each project, the research team collected about 10,000 questionnaires from a probability sample representative of students enrolled in Macao schools. Governmental and non-governmental organisations in Macao have adopted the survey results as an empirical basis for the development of substance abuse prevention and treatment programmes. This year, the Social Welfare Bureau of Macao has entrusted AASAR with another large-scale research projected titled ‘Substance Abuse Trend and Drug Treatment Service Needs and Development’. Using household survey and respondent-driven sampling interviews, this ongoing study collect data to assess the prevalence of substance abuse and relevant factors, service needs related to substance abuse in Macao, and the effectiveness of existing treatment programmes.
Moreover, AASAR recently signed an agreement with the government of Shangsi County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to conduct a study of the factors responsible for drug-related crimes in order to explore effective prevention, interdiction and correction strategies and help the local government solve the drug problems that has become increasingly rampant on the border between China and Vietnam.
Prof Li has been devoted to research on substance abuse prevention and treatment for many years. He has been invited to give keynote speeches at many national and international conferences on substance abuse. In addition, he has been serving as a member of the Narcotics Control Committee of the Macao SAR Government since 2016, contributing to the improvement of substance abuse policy and practices in Macao.
澳門大學社會科學學院社會學系教授李德（Spencer De Li）再次當選為亞洲藥物濫用研究學會會長，任期為三年。
亞洲藥物濫用研究學會是亞洲地區致力於藥物濫用研究的國際性協會，以推動亞洲地區有關藥物濫用的科學研究、循證預防及治療策略。其會員包括從事藥物濫用防治工作的學者和研究人員、政府官員、實務工作者及大專院校學生。該會最近與廣西壯族自治區上思縣政府簽訂合作協議，立項研究當地毒品犯罪的原因，探索行之有效的預防、打擊和矯治措施，幫助地方政府解決中越邊境日趨嚴重的毒品問題。
在李德的領導下，亞洲藥物濫用研究學會幾年來設計並實施了多項由澳門政府資助的關於澳門社會藥物濫用的大型社會調查，包括《2014年在學青少年與藥物跟蹤調查》和《2018年在學青少年與藥物跟蹤調查》，每次調查都抽取了能夠代表澳門在學青少年的概率樣本（收集了約一萬份有效問卷），調查結果已被澳門政府和非政府組織作爲藥物濫用防治工作的實證依據予以采納。今年，澳門社會工作局再委托亞洲藥物濫用研究學會進行題為“澳門社會的濫藥趨勢、戒毒服務需求與發展＂大型研究項目，以入戶調查和受訪者驅動抽樣的方法收集數據，探討澳門社會中藥物濫用的盛行狀況與相關因素、以及評估澳門在藥物濫用方面的服務需求以及現行戒治項目的效益，該項研究正在執行之中。
李德多年來一直致力於藥物濫用預防和治療研究，多次應邀參加藥物濫用領域的國内和國際研討會並做主旨發言。他從2016年起一直兼任澳門禁毒委員會委員，為完善澳門藥物濫用的政策和實踐做出了貢獻。
