Below are the most recent reports and articles from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. Please visit our RAND Topics pages for a complete research archive on these and other drug policy-related research topics.
RAND Topic Pages: Drug Policies and TrendsAmong adults with opioid and alcohol use disorders, a collaborative care intervention—which integrates behavioral health care into primary care—increased both access to treatment and abstinence.
Young adult veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may use drinking to cope, and their perceived stigma regarding substance abuse help may be a barrier to treatment.
Testimony presented before the House of Commons of Canada Standing Committee on Health on September 14, 2017.
Between 2012 and 2016, RAND studied the implementation of the substance use motivation and medication integrated treatment (SUMMIT) program in a multi-site large urban federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Los Angeles County. This report describes the costs of the program, separating the resources spent by the FQHC and the external facilitators of the SUMMIT program.
Patients of community health clinics who screen positive for alcohol or opioid misuse have a high probability of an alcohol- or substance-use disorder and a slightly higher prevalence of mental illness than the overall clinic population.
Empowering those under criminal justice supervision to cease drug use on their own - rather than forcing them into formal treatment against their will - is a policy approach that warrants further evaluation.
Analysis of marijuana price data in Colorado and Washington suggests that short-term evaluations of legalization's effects on marijuana consumption are not necessarily indicative of long-term effects.
We found Partners Connect reduced CP anxiety and increased their emotional and tangible social support, factors that have a strong research base in affecting quality of life and health outcomes.
Cigarette smoking during adolescence appears to be more strongly associated withimpaired functioning across multiple domains for racial/ethnic minority youth in late adolescence compared with their white peers.
Outpatient guidelines can help hospitalists evaluate inpatients on long-term opioid therapy, but more work is needed to help providers make decisions for inpatients that balance effective pain treatment and opioid risk reduction.
The methods of contacting respondents and the technology for questioning respondents in household surveys complicate cross-country comparisons of drug prevalence.
Recent research revealed momentary associations between exposure to alcohol advertising and positive beliefs about alcohol among adolescents (Martino et al., 2016). We reanalyzed those data to determine whether associations depend on adolescents' appraisal of ads.
Surgeons successfully delivered a brief smoking cessation intervention to patients preparing for peripheral artery disease surgery; initial results suggest the pre-surgery period may be a “teachable moment” for encouraging patients to quit smoking.
Conduct disorder is associated with risky sexual behavior among youth, but the specific behavior most strongly associated with conduct disorder is different for female and males.
A brief group-based motivational interview intervention was effective in helping homeless young adults make positive changes in their alcohol and condom use.
Homeless young adults who engaged in greater talk of changing risky substance use and sexual behavior during group interviews were less likely to be heavy drinkers.
The attitudes of military personnel about drinking predict their future drinking behaviors and may be key to understanding the relationship between normative perceptions about drinking and drinking behaviors.
Guidelines designed to reduce the prescription of opioids following an injury did not reduce opioid use.
Implementation of a prescription drug monitoring program in 10 states was associated with a reduction in overall volume of opioid drugs prescribed.
This paper describes the process of planning and developing an intervention for delivering treatment for opioid and alcohol use disorders in primary care.
