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Staff Profiles
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Rosalie Liccardo PaculaSanta Monica Office Acting Director, Economics, Financing, and Organization Program, RAND Health; Codirector, RAND Drug Policy Research Center EducationPh.D. in economics, Duke University; B.S. in political science, Santa Clara University |
Biography
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation. Pacula serves as codirector of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center and as acting director of the Economics, Financing, and Organization program within RAND Health. Pacula's research has largely focused on whether state and local public policies are cost-effective and effective at reducing substance abuse among youths. She had evaluated the impact of marijuana decriminalization and medicalization on marijuana use among youth; analyzed gender and racial differences in response to particular substance use policies; assessed the impact of higher cigarette and alcohol prices on demand for illicit substances; and conducted cost-benefit analyses of school-based drug prevention programs. Pacula has also helped to measure the size of illicit drug markets and prices. As part of this larger research agenda, she has done in-depth policy analyses of state-level parity legislation, medical marijuana policies, and decriminalization policy in the United States and abroad. Pacula has been a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) since 1997, participating in both the NBER Program on Health Economics and on Children. She is currently an assistant editor for the monthly journal Addiction. From 2003 through 2007, she was a member of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Health Services Scientific Review Committee and prior to that served for two years on National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's Health Services Review Committee. Pacula received her Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Duke University.
Research Focus
Cost-effectiveness of substance abuse prevention, treatment, and diversion programs; mental health and substance abuse treatment finance, organization, and effectiveness; drug markets and policy; economic cost of domestic violence; social cost of drug use and abuse
RAND Research Areas
Recent Projects
- Examination of factors influencing the supply and demand of illicit drugs
- Models examining the price of illicit drugs
- Economic analyses of the cost of drug abuse in the United States and Europe
- Cost-effectiveness of school-based drug prevention programs
- Impact of parity legislation on mental health care service utilization
Selected Publications
McCaffrey D, Pacula RL, Han B and Ellickson P, "Marijuana Use and High School Drop Out: The Influence of Unobservables", Health Economics, 2010
MacCoun R, Pacula RL et al., "Do Citizens Know Whether Their State Has Decriminalized Marijuana?", Review of Law and Economics, 2009
Nicosia, N; Pacula RL, Kilmer B, Lundberg R and J Chiesa, "Economic Cost of Methamphetamine Use in the United States 2005", RAND Research Monograph MG829, 2009
Pacula RL, Ringel J, Dobkins C, and K Truong, "The Incremental Health Services Cost Associated with Marijuana Use", Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 92 248-257, 2008
J. Williams et al., "Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among College Students: Economic Complements or Substitutes?", Health Economics, 13, 2004
Wayne Hall and Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Cannabis Use and Dependence: Public Health and Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, 2003
R. L. Pacula et al., "State Medical Marijuana Laws: Understanding the Laws and Their Limitations", Journal of Public Health Policy, 23(4), 2002
Research Focus
Cost-effectiveness of substance abuse prevention, treatment, and diversion programs, decriminalization and medicalization of marijuana, drug markets and policy, economic cost of domestic violence, social cost of drug use and abuse
Recent Projects
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of school-based drug prevention
- Trends in the prices of illicit drugs in the United States
- The economic costs of marijuana use
- Effectiveness of marijuana policies at discouraging use
- Economic cost of domestic violence
Selected Publications
"Marijuana Markets: Inferences from Reports by the Household Population," J. P. Caulkins and R. L. Pacula, Journal of Drug Issues, Vol. 36, No. 1, Winter 2006
"What Does It Mean to Decriminalize Cannabis? A Cross-National Empirical Examination," R. L. Pacula et al., in B. Lindgren and M. Grossman, eds., Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research, Vol. 16-Substance Use: Individual Behavior, Social Interactions, Markets and Politics, Elsevier Press, 2005
"Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among College Students: Economic Complements or Substitutes?" J. Williams et al., Health Economics, Vol. 13, 2004
Cannabis Use and Dependence: Public Health and Public Policy, Wayne Hall and Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Cambridge University Press, 2003
"State Medical Marijuana Laws: Understanding the Laws and Their Limitations," R. L. Pacula et al., Journal of Public Health Policy, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2002
Recent Media Appearances
Interviews: ACLU documentary on drug testing in schools; Arkansas Democrat Gazette; Copley News Service; Reuters
To arrange an interview:
Contact the RAND Office of Media Relations, (703) 413-1100, x5117 or (310) 451-6913, or send an email to media@rand.org.
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