Beau Kilmer (he/him) is the McCauley Chair in Drug Policy Innovation, codirector of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, and a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His research lies at the intersection of public health and public safety, with special emphasis on crime control, substance use, illegal markets, and public policy.
Some of his recent projects include assessing the consequences of cannabis legalization (with a special focus on social equity); measuring the effect of 24/7 Sobriety programs on DUI, domestic violence, and mortality; facilitating San Francisco's Drug Dealing Task Force; analyzing changes in illegal fentanyl markets; and evaluating the evidence and arguments made about heroin-assisted treatment and supervised consumption sites.
Kilmer's publications have appeared in leading journals such as New England Journal of Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and his commentaries have been published by CNN, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and other outlets. His coauthored book on cannabis legalization was published by Oxford University Press and his coauthored book on the future of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids was published by RAND.
Kilmer received a NHTSA Public Service Award for his “leadership and innovation in the areas of alcohol and drug-impaired driving program and policy research” and his coauthored work on 24/7 Sobriety received honourable mention for the Behavioural Exchange Award for Outstanding Research. He received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University, M.P.P. from UC-Berkeley, and B.A. from Michigan State University.
Selected Publications
Nancy Nicosia, Beau Kilmer, Greg Midgette, Marika Suttorp Booth, "Association of an Alcohol Abstinence Program With Mortality in Individuals Arrested for Driving While Alcohol Impaired," JAMA Psychiatry, 2023
Beau Kilmer, Bryce Pardo, Toyya A. Pujol, Jonathan P. Caulkins, "Rapid Changes in Illegally Manufactured Fentanyl Products and Prices in the United States," Addiction (forthcoming)
Beau Kilmer, Greg Midgette, "Criminal deterrence: Insights from an individual-level analysis of 24/7 Sobriety," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2020
Beau Kilmer, Jirka Taylor, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Pam A. Mueller, Allison J. Ober, Bryce Pardo, Rosanna Smart, Lucy Strang, Peter H. Reuter, Considering Heroin-Assisted Treatment & Supervised Drug Consumption Sites in the United States, RAND (RR-2693), 2018
Beau Kilmer, "Recreational Cannabis--Minimizing the Health Risks from Legalization," The New England Journal of Medicine, 376, 2017
Jonathan P. Caulkins, Beau Kilmer, Mark A.R. Kleiman, Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know (2nd Edition), Oxford University Press, 2016
Beau Kilmer, Nancy Nicosia, Paul Heaton, Greg Midgette, "Efficacy of Frequent Monitoring with Swift, Certain, and Modest Sanctions for Violations: Insights from South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project," American Journal of Public Health, 103, 2013
Mark Kleiman, Beau Kilmer, "The Dynamics of Deterrence," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 2009