Summary and conclusions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Babor ◽  
Jonathan Caulkins ◽  
Benedikt Fischer ◽  
David Foxcroft ◽  
Keith Humphreys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Drug Supply ◽  
The Public ◽  
Balanced Approach

Among the 47 options reviewed in this book, most show some evidence of effectiveness in at least one country, but the evidence is less than definitive for many others, either because the interventions are ineffective, or the research is inadequate. Unfortunately, policies that have shown little or no evidence of effectiveness continue to be the preferred options of many countries and international organizations. The evidence reviewed in this book supports two overarching conclusions. First, an integrated and balanced approach to evidence-informed drug policy is more likely to benefit the public good than uncoordinated efforts to reduce drug supply and demand. Second, by shifting the emphasis toward a public health approach, it may be possible to reduce the extent of illicit drug use, prevent the escalation of new epidemics, and avoid the unintended consequences arising from the marginalization of drug users through severe criminal penalties.

Drug Policy and the Public Good

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Babor ◽  
Jonathan Caulkins ◽  
Benedikt Fischer ◽  
David Foxcroft ◽  
Keith Humphreys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Drug Supply ◽  
Psychoactive Substances ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
The Public

Drug Policy and the Public Good presents the accumulated scientific knowledge of direct relevance to the development of drug policy on local, national, and international levels. The book explores both illicit drug use and non-medical use of prescription medications within a public health perspective. A conceptual basis for a rational drug policy is presented, along with new epidemiological data on the global dimensions of drug misuse, significant trends in drug epidemics, and the global burden of disease attributable to drug misuse. The markets for both illicit and legally prescribed psychoactive substances are described, showing that these two sources of drug supply are becoming increasingly connected in many countries. The core of the book is a critical review of the cumulative scientific evidence in five general areas of drug policy: primary prevention programmes in schools and other settings; treatment interventions and harm reduction approaches; attempts to control the supply of illicit drugs, including drug interdiction and law enforcement; decriminalization and penal approaches; and control of the legal market through prescription drug regimes. The final chapters discuss the trend toward legalization of some psychoactive substances in different parts of the world and describe the need for a new approach to drug policy that is evidence-based, realistic, and coordinated. The evidence reviewed in this book suggests that an integrated and balanced approach to evidence-informed drug policy is more likely to benefit the public good than are uncoordinated efforts to reduce drug supply and demand.

scholarly journals Increasing presence of xylazine in heroin and/or fentanyl deaths, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2010–2019

2021 ◽  
pp. injuryprev-2020-043968
Author(s):  
Jewell Johnson ◽  
Lia Pizzicato ◽  
Caroline Johnson ◽  
Kendra Viner
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Active Drug ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Drug Supply ◽  
Health Consequences ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
The Usa

Reports from active drug users state that xylazine, the veterinary tranquilliser, has been increasing in the illicit drug supply in Philadelphia. To describe trends and characteristics of unintentional deaths from heroin and/or fentanyl overdose with xylazine detections occurring in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health analysed data on deaths from unintentional heroin and/or fentanyl overdose from the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office over a 10-year period (2010–2019). Xylazine went from being detected in less than 2% cases of fatal heroin and/or fentanyl overdose between 2010 and 2015 to 262 (31%) of the 858 fatal heroin and/or fentanyl overdose cases in 2019. Currently, information is limited on the presence of xylazine in continental United States. Xylazine’s association with adverse outcomes in other locations indicates that potential health consequences should also be monitored in the USA. Whenever possible, jurisdictions should consistently test for xylazine.

scholarly journals 20 years of Portuguese drug policy - developments, challenges and the quest for human rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximene RÊGO ◽  
Maria João OLIVEIRA ◽  
Catarina LAMEIRA ◽  
Olga S. CRUZ
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Drug Use Patterns

AbstractPortugal decriminalized the public and private use, acquisition, and possession of all drugs in 2000; adopting an approach focused on public health rather than public-order priorities. Arguing that the Portuguese Drug Policy Model has not proven influential enough to emancipate drug use from the stigma that associates it either with crime or pathology, this article critically discusses the developments and current challenges the Portuguese drug policy confronts, namely the growing diversity of drug use patterns observed in Portugal as well as in Europe. To this end, international and national legal instruments concerning drugs and official local data were analysed. Despite encouraging results, conclusions indicate that these policies are marked by contradictions and ambiguities that have permeated its history since the very beginning, and modest ambitions, particularly regarding the implementation of harm reduction measures. Moreover, the polemical Supreme Court judgment that reestablished, in 2008, drug use as a crime when the quantities at play exceeded those required for an average individual’s use for 10 days, might have impacted the landscape of drug use penalization. The last decade saw an increase of punitiveness targeted at drug users, including criminal sentences of jail terms. We finish with some suggestions that could be employed in the practical application of drug policy.

scholarly journals The Costs of Australian Drug Policy

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E Marks
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Annual Cost ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Total Annual Cost ◽  
Drug Laws ◽  
Aids Epidemic

Despite seventy years of increasing restrictions, and in the case of heroin almost forty years of absolute prohibition, by all measures the consumption of illegal drugs in Australia has continued to grow. Despite — or perhaps because of — these policies, the costs of enforcement borne by the taxpayer and other costs borne by residents at large have continued to grow. The AIDS epidemic exposed injecting drug users (IDUs) and their partners to the risk of HIV infection, a further cost, but it has encouraged discussion of the effectiveness of the existing policy and the feasibility of alternatives. This study is an attempt to put dollar amounts on these costs, and to estimate how they would change under an alternative policy of drug use regulation. We argue that the recent Cleeland Report underestimates the true costs of the law enforcement against illicit drug use by a factor of at least two. We estimate a total annual cost of existing drug laws in 1987–88 to Australia of $950 million, as well as forced transfers of $656 million.

scholarly journals Has illicit drug use become normalised in groups of Swedish youth? A latent class analysis of school survey data from 2012 to 2015

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik Karlsson ◽  
Mats Ekendahl ◽  
Josefin Månsson ◽  
Jonas Raninen
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Latent Class Analysis ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Illicit Drug Use ◽  
Illicit Drug Users ◽  
High Prevalence

Background: It is often assumed that illicit drug use has become normalised in the Western world, as evidenced for example by increased prevalence rates and drug-liberal notions in both socially advantaged and disadvantaged youth populations. There is accumulating research on the characteristics of young illicit drug users from high-prevalence countries, but less is known about the users in countries where use is less common. There is reason to assume that drug users in low-prevalence countries may be more disadvantaged than their counterparts in high-prevalence countries, and that the normalisation thesis perhaps does not apply to the former context. Aim: This article aims to explore to what extent such assertions hold true by studying the characteristics of young illicit drug users in Sweden, where prevalence is low and drug policy centres on zero tolerance. Material and Method: We draw on a subsample ( n = 3374) of lifetime users of illicit drugs from four waves of a nationally representative sample of students in 9th and 11th grade (2012–2015). Latent class analysis (LCA) on ten indicators pertaining to illicit drug use identified four classes which we termed “Marijuana testers”, “Marijuana users”, “Cannabinoid users” and “Polydrug users”. Findings: Indications of social advantage/disadvantage such as peer drug use, early substance-use debut and truancy varied across groups, particularly between “Marijuana testers” (low scores) and “Polydrug users” (high scores). Conclusions: Our findings corroborate the idea that the majority of those who have used illicit drugs in the Swedish youth population have tried marijuana a few times only. We discuss whether or not the comparably large share of socially advantaged “Marijuana testers” in a comparably small sample of lifetime users can be interpreted as a sort of normalisation in a prohibitionist drug policy context.

scholarly journals The Brazilian Drug Policy Situation: The Public Health Approach Based on Research Undertaken in a Developing Country

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Ribeiro ◽  
Luciane Ogata Perrenoud ◽  
Sérgio Duailibi ◽  
Lígia Bonacim Duailibi ◽  
Clarice Madruga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
The Public

Drugs and Prisons

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wheatley ◽  
John R. Weekes ◽  
Andrea E. Moser ◽  
Kathleen Thibault
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
The United States ◽  
Correctional Institutions ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Drug Economy ◽  
Prison Populations ◽  
And Control

This essay explores how illegal drugs are linked to imprisonment, especially in the United States. First, the chapter considers statistics that demonstrate how the high U.S. imprisonment rate is driven by the criminalization of substance misuse, despite the high incidence of drug use in the general population. Prison populations that include a mixture of drug users and drug dealers are virtually guaranteed to find ways of bringing drugs into prison, and the demand is increased by the desire to ease the pains of imprisonment. The illicit drug economy in prisons and the associated violence is a threat to the safety of both staff and prisoners. Discussed are ways drugs enter correctional institutions and the methods used to disrupt supply routes. Types of treatment to reduce demand are considered. The complex mix of issues affecting drug use in prisons means that a careful, balanced approach to care and control is needed.

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