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DPRC Insights is a regularly published electronic newsletter that focuses on major drug policy issues.Welcome to the Drug Policy Research Center
Since 1989, the RAND Drug Policy Research Center has conducted research to help community leaders and public officials develop more effective ways of dealing with drug problems. In doing so, the DPRC brings an objective, pragmatic perspective to this often emotional and fractious policy arena. The Center's goal is to provide a firm, empirical foundation on which sound policies can be built.
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Recent News and Publications
Three Years after Legalization of Nonprescription Pharmacy Syringe Sales in California: Where Are We Now?
The 2005 passage of California Senate Bill 1159 enabled pharmacies to legally sell up to 10 syringes to adults without a prescription. This study analyzes the progress of such disease prevention demonstration projects since they were implemented.
Access to Sterile Syringes through San Francisco Pharmacies and the Association with HIV Risk Behavior among Injection Drug Users
This study determined the extent of pharmacy uptake of non-prescription syringe sales among injection drug users and estimated associations between pharmacy uptake and safer injection/disposal practices.
Obama's Drug Strategy: Worth Waiting For?
The Crime Report's Contributing Editor Ted Gest, president of Criminal Justice Journalists, asked Peter Reuter, former director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center and currently a professor with joint appointments to the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland, for his take on Obama's drug control strategy.
Tackling Problem Drug Use
The National Audit Office (NAO) study, Tackling Problem Drug Use, focuses in particular on local delivery authorities' capacity and capability to effectively tackle problem drug use through delivery of local services.
Exploring Productivity Outcomes from a Brief Intervention of At-Risk Drinking in an Employee Assistance Program
This exploratory study examines changes in workplace productivity and related costs for clients receiving a brief intervention (BI) for at-risk drinking in the employee assistance program (EAP).
Fourth Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy
The fourth annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) was held at RAND's Headquarters in Santa Monica, CA, March 15-16, 2010. More than 140 researchers and decisionmakers were in attendance, representing six continents and nearly 25 countries.
Drug Treatment for Drug-Abusing Criminal Offenders: Insights from California's Proposition 36 and Arizona's Proposition 200
A number of states have considered laws or ballot initiatives intended to divert drug-abusing criminal offenders into treatment programs instead of prison or jail. This piece focuses on key insights from California's Proposition 36 and Arizona's Proposition 200.
Is Substance Use a Barrier to Protected Sex Among Homeless Women?
The findings of this study challenge the common belief that women's alcohol use before sex necessarily increases the likelihood of unprotected sex.
Off-Premise Alcohol Sales Policies, Drinking, and Sexual Risk Among People Living with HIV
This study of national survey and state policy data found that restrictive alcohol sales policies may reduce drinking and transmission risk in HIV-positive populations.
Risks and Prices: The Role of User Sanctions in Marijuana Markets
The paper suggests that lower legal risks for marijuana users are associated with higher marijuana prices in the short-run, which ceteris paribus, implies an upward sloping supply curve, higher consumption, and higher profits for drug dealers. The findings have important implications for the current policy debates regarding decriminalization of marijuana.
The Real Numbers Behind the Illicit Drug Trade of Heroin and Cocaine
As cocaine and heroin make their perilous journeys from the fields of Colombia and Afghanistan to markets in U.S. and European cities, each border crossed and each trafficker involved adds dollars to a price that jumps from less than $1,000 to over $100,000.
Price of Intoxication: The Case for a Minimum Price for Alcohol
Both the English and Scottish governments have expressed interest in introducing laws setting a minimum price for all alcoholic beverages. Compelling research has found that this could save the taxpayer millions of pounds every year in health, criminal, and other costs.
A Comparison of Two Depressive Symptomatology Measures in Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Clients
The BDI-II and the PHQ-9, two common measures of depression, are appropriate to use with individuals who are also substance abusers. The PHQ-9 may be better for measuring depression among substance abusers than the BDI-II because the PHQ-9 is more sensitive, shorter, easier to administer, and has no per-administration cost.
Technical Assistance as a Prevention Capacity-building Tool
Two-way communication may be the key ingredient in improving the effectiveness of technical assistance provided to community-based prevention programs.
Marijuana Use and High School Dropout: The Influence of Unobservables
The association between marijuana use and high school dropout status is unlikely to be due to its adverse effects on cognition, but instead involves parental and peer influences.
Seven Years Later: Developmental Transitions and Delinquent Behavior for Male Adolescents Who Received Long-Term Substance Treatment
This study examines how developmental transitions may affect high-risk adolescents' involvement in criminal behavior, substance use, and emotional problems.
Analysis of Item Response and Differential Item Functioning of Alcohol Expectancies in Middle School Youths
Improving the measurement of alcohol expectancies can help researchers better assess drinking behavior in preadolescence.
Multiple Trajectories of Peer and Parental Influence and Their Association with the Development of Adolescent Heavy Drinking
Youth who perceived that their parents maintained consistently strong disapproval of substance use throughout adolescence were found to be much more likely to abstain from heavy drinking.
Recanting of Life-Time Inhalant Use: How Big a Problem and What to Make of It
About half of students reporting inhalant use in 7th grade recanted in 8th grade. Of those who changed their reports, about one-third probably made an error in 7th grade, then corrected it, while the other two-thirds were lying.
Q&A: Beau Kilmer on President's National Drug Control Strategy
In an interview with the Harvard Kennedy School, Kilmer offers his thoughts on drug policy and what kind of strategy we might expect from the Obama Administration.
The Dynamics of Deterrence
When punishment capacity is constrained and offenders’ behavior responds to changes in the probability of punishment, a dual-equilibrium "tipping" situation can result. In that case, temporary increases in punishment capacity can lead to lasting changes in violation rates.
The World Heroin Market: Can Supply Be Cut?
Heroin is universally considered the world's most harmful illegal drug. The production and trafficking of opiates have caused crime, disease, and social distress throughout the world, leading many nations to invest billions of dollars trying to suppress the industry. Can the world heroin supply actually be cut, and with what consequences?
Read More at Oxford University Press 
Related DPRC Insights Newsletter
Promoting Evidence-Based Practices: The Adoption of a Prevention Support System in Community Settings
This study examined the adoption of a prevention support system (PSS) for substance abuse prevention and found that adoption of the PSS occurred through increased exposure, especially via staff training, and that perceptions of the system's complexity moderated this effect.
Simultaneous Recruitment of Drug Users and Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States and Russia Using Respondent-Driven Sampling: Methods and Implications
The Sexual Acquisition and Transmission of HIV Cooperative Agreement Program examined the role of drug use in the sexual transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from traditional high-risk groups to lower risk groups in three U.S. cities and in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Victimization from Mental and Physical Bullying and Substance Use in Early Adolescence
Study finds an association between victimization from bullying and substance use among middle school students.
Factors Associated with Event-Level Stimulant Use during Sex in a Sampler of Older, Low-Income Men Who Have Sex with Men in Los Angeles
Research investigates stimulant use during sex among older, very low-income men who have sex with men and finds that methamphetamine users may be at greater risk for HIV transmission.
Do Citizens Know Whether Their State has Decriminalized Marijuana?
National survey data indicates that citizens believe they can be jailed for marijuana possession, regardless of whether or not their state has already removed such penalties.
The Effects of Substance Use on Workplace Injuries
Workplace injuries and illnesses are a public-health issue with costs exceeding $100 billion annually in the United States. This paper examines links between workplace injury and substance abuse. A literature review is included, as well as an examination of policies addressing substance use in the workplace, and more.
Alcohol Abuse and Illegal Drug Use Among Los Angeles County Trauma Patients: Prevalence and Evaluation of Single Item Screener
A large proportion of urban center patients abuse alcohol and illegal drugs, factors associated with injury and repeat injury. Use of a one-item screener in the trauma center could help identify which patients might benefit from interventions or more thorough medical assessments.
Creating a Developmentally Sensitive Measure of Adolescent Alcohol Misuse: An Application of Item Response Theory
Seventeen alcohol misuse items were calibrated with item reponse thoery and examined for differential item functioning. The results, and implications and suggestions for future research, are discussed in this article.
Long-Term Effects of Drug Prevention on Risky Sexual Behavior Among Young Adults
Researchers found that young adults who had been exposed to a popular drug abuse prevention program as adolescents were less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior five to seven years later.
The War on Drugs: Methamphetamine, Public Health, and Crime
In 1995, a government effort to reduce the supply of methamphetamine precursors successfully disrupted the methamphetamine market but there is no evidence of substantial reductions in related crime.
Social Capital and The Neighborhood Alcohol Environment
Off-premise alcohol outlets may hinder the development of social capital in neighborhoods.
The Economic Cost of Methamphetamine Use in the United States, 2005
First effort to find price tag of methamphetamine use for U.S. puts cost at $23 billion. Among the most costly elements are the intangible burden of addiction and premature death, which account for nearly two-thirds of the economic costs.
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The Global Diversion of Pharmaceutical Drugs
India, a major illicit opiate consumer, is also the sole licensed exporter of raw opium: this unique status may be enabling substantial diversion to the illicit market.
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