Letter from the Editor

This issue of RAND Health Quarterly includes the fifth edition of The Science of Gun Policy, which synthesizes available scientific evidence for the effects of various firearm policies on firearm injuries and deaths, violent crime, suicides, the gun industry, defensive gun use, and other outcomes. The authors highlight policies whose effects are more rigorously and reliably demonstrated by existing research, as well as areas in which better information could contribute to establishing fair and effective gun policies.

In health policy and health economics, Michelle Priest, Beau Kilmer, and others present new survey data on the use of 11 psychedelic substances. An increasing number of U.S. states are implementing or considering alternative policies to the prohibition of some psychedelic substances for nonclinical purposes. The authors present new data and analysis to inform these discussions with survey results on the use of 11 psychedelic substances and detailed information about the prevalence of microdosing (i.e., taking a fraction of a full dose, often on a schedule) for psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA.

Lisa S. Meredith, Ph.D., Editor