Welcome to the Drug Policy Research Center
Celebrating 20 years of vigorous commitment toward creating a firm, empirical foundation upon which sound drug policies can be built.
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.
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Understanding the Public Health Implications of Prisoner Reentry in California
Inmates released from California prisons have a high need for drug treatment, health care and mental health services, but they face barriers to accessing such aid because many return to communities where health care services are severely strained.
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News Release
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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News Release
A Report on Global Illicit Drug Markets 1998-2007
This monograph finds no evidence that the global drug problem was reduced during the period from 1998 to 2007. For some nations the problem declined but for others it worsened and for some of those it worsened sharply and substantially.
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Featured News, Testimony, and Abstracts
Do Citizens Know Whether Their State has Decriminalized Marijuana?
MacCoun, R; Pacula, RL; Chriqui, J; Harris, K; Reuter, P
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.
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A Single Item Screener for Alcohol and Substance Abuse in the Trauma Center
Ramchand R, Marshall GN, Schell TL, Jaycox LH, Hambarsoomians K, Shetty V, Hinika GS, Cryer HG, Meade P, Belzberg H
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.
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Study Evaluates Usefulness of Item Response Theory to Create Developmental Alcohol Misuse Scale
Edelen MO, McCaffrey DF, Ellickson PL, Tucker JS, Klein DJ
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.
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Drug Education Also Helps Curb Risky Sexual Behavior
Ellickson PL, McCaffrey DF, Klein DJ
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.
News releaseRead Abstract
RAND Forum Explores Current U.S. Drug Policy, April 16, 2009
A panel featuring RAND experts and other leading voices in the drug policy debate discussed the results of the United States' long-running battle against drugs and explored promising new directions for managing drug abuse.
Media Advisory
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The War on Drugs: Methamphetamine, Public Health, and Crime
Dobkin C, Nicosia N
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.
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Social Capital and The Neighborhood Alcohol Environment
Theall KP, Scribner R, Cohen D, Bluthenthal RN, Schonlau M, Farley TA
Off-premise alcohol outlets may hinder the development of social capital in neighborhoods.
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Drug Treatment for Drug-Abusing Criminal Offenders: Insights from California's Proposition 36 and Arizona's Proposition 200
Kilmer B, Iguchi MY
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.
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The Global Diversion of Pharmaceutical Drugs
Paoli L, Greenfield VA, Charles M, Reuter P.
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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Drug Use, Social Context, and HIV Risk in Homeless Youth
The major goal of this study is to investigate the social context of drug use and high-risk sexual behavior in a probability sample of homeless youth (ages 13-23) in Los Angeles County.
Economic Cost of Drug Use
This project estimates the economic cost of drug use in the United States with a microsimulation modeling approach that accounts for the uncertainty and heterogeneity of costs that occur among drug users.
Project CHOICE Offers L.A. Teens Confidential Support Group on Substance Use
Project CHOICE is a weekly confidential after-school program for Los Angeles teenagers to discuss alcohol, cigarette, and drug use, and to get information on teenage substance use, its consequences, and how to avoid it.
Role of Race in Criminal Justice Referrals to Treatment
The goal of this study is to examine the adjudication of drug offenders in California from 1982- 2005 in order to determine the extent to which race/ethnicity has played a role in the final disposition and referral to drug treatment.
Drug-supply Reduction and Drug-related Crime in Europe
The goal of this project is to assist the European Commission in determining relevant policy needs for drug-related statistics and information at EU level and to ascertain to which extent these needs are feasible and/or covered by existing data collections.
Effectiveness of Drug Treatment to Improve Community-level Outcomes
This study will examine whether treatment is effective in reducing the health and social harms associated with drug use in California communities, and how those benefits vary across demographic groups.
The DPRC Insight is a regularly published electronic newsletter that focuses on major drug policy issues.
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