Drug Policy and the Public Good

Abstract

Drug use represents a significant burden to public health, through disease, disability and social problems, and policy makers are becoming increasingly interested in how to develop evidence-based drug policy. It is therefore crucial to strengthen the links between addiction science and drug policy. Drug Policy and the Public Good is collaboratively written by an international group of career scientists, to provide an analytical basis on which to build relevant global drug policies, and to inform policy makers who have direct responsibility for public health and social welfare. Drug Policy and the Public Good presents the accumulated scientific knowledge on illicit drugs that has direct relevance to the development of drug policy on local, national, and international levels. The authors describe the conceptual basis for a rational drug policy, and present new epidemiological data on the global dimensions of drug misuse. The core of the book is a critical review of the cumulative scientific evidence in five general areas of drug policy: primary prevention programs in schools and other settings; supply reduction approaches, including drug interdiction and legal enforcement; treatment interventions and harm reduction approaches; criminal sanctions and decriminalization; and control of the legal market through prescription drug regimes. The final chapters discuss the current state of drug policy in different parts of the world, and describe the need for a new approach to drug policy that is evidence-based, realistic, and coordinated.

What Can We Learn From The Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs?

“…Decriminalization is often discussed as if it is one, simple, unitary concept. But there are several forms of decriminalization in practice internationally (Uitermark 2004;McLaren and Mattick 2007;Babor et al 2010). None of the other models is as explicitly linked to dissuasion, treatment and integration as the HUGHES AND STEVENS Portuguese approach.…”

Linking science to policy: the role of international collaboration and problem‐focused integrative reviews

“…Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the four books [1][2][3][4][5], one of which [4] was substantially revised into a second edition.…”

“…The literature on illicit drug use was far more challenging than the research on alcohol because of its diversity across disciplinary boundaries and the political sensitivity of the issues to be considered. Published in 2010, the book summarized the findings from 985 research papers, literature reviews, scholarly books and government reports [5].…”

Drug policy, harm and human rights: A rationalist approach

“…It provides the basis for many important discussions of drug policy (e.g. Babor et al, 2010;Boyum & Reuter, 2005). But it has no underlying basis for defining what is good, and what is evil.…”