The International journal on drug policy
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'Evidence-based policy' has become the catch-cry of the drug policy field. A growing literature has been dedicated to better realising the goal of evidence-based drug policy: to maximise the use of the best quality research to inform policy decision-making and help answer the question of 'what works'. Alternative accounts in the policy processes literature conceptualise policy activity as an ambiguous and contested process, and the role of evidence as being only marginally influential. ⋯ As such, social construction provides a framework for critically analysing the ways in which 'policy-relevant knowledge' may not be a stable concept but rather one which is constructed through the policy process, and, through a process of validation, is rendered useful. We have limited knowledge in the drug policy field about how this happens; how ambiguity about the problems to be addressed, which voices should be heard, and what activities may be appropriate is contested and managed. By unpicking the values and assumptions which underlie drug policy processes, how problems are constructed and represented, and the ways in which different voices and knowledge(s) come to bear on that process, we may begin to see avenues for reform which may not at present seem obvious.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Sep 2014
Governance versus government: drug consumption rooms in Australia and the UK.
To evaluate, through a case study, the extent to which elements of governance and elements of government are influential in determining the implementation or non-implementation of a drugs intervention. ⋯ Both governance and government are useful frameworks in conceptualising the policy process. The governance narrative risks overlooking the importance of traditional government structures. In the case of drug consumption rooms in the UK and Australia, a focus on government is shown to have been crucial in determining whether the intervention was implemented.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Jul 2014
Preferences for policy options for cannabis in an Australian general population: A discrete choice experiment.
Policy choices for illicit drugs such as cannabis entail consideration of competing factors such as individual health, societal views about pleasure, and criminal justice impacts. Society must weigh up these factors in determining the preferred cannabis policy; although often cast as a contest between legalisation of cannabis or full prohibition the actual policy choices are not so black and white. This study assessed societal preferences for different cannabis policies and multiple consequences. ⋯ This is the first known DCE survey applied to the area of illicit drugs policy. It demonstrates the public hold disparate views on the most appropriate status for cannabis offences and they are able to make trade-offs between policy choices and outcomes in complex areas of social policy.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Jul 2014
Barriers to access for Canadians who use cannabis for therapeutic purposes.
There is increased interest in the therapeutic potential of cannabis in recent decades. Canada, the Netherlands, Israel and some states in the United States have developed programs to allow access to cannabis for therapeutic purposes (CTP). In Canada, enrollment in the federal CTP program represents fewer than 5% of the estimated users of CTP. The discrepancy between the number of Canadians who report using CTP and the rate of utilization of the federal CTP program suggests the existence of barriers to access to this program. ⋯ Strategies need to be developed to encourage scientific inquiry into CTP and address the barriers to access to CTP and the stigma and controversy that surround CTP and strain patient-physician relationships.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Jul 2014
Assembling the dominant accounts of youth drug use in Australian harm reduction drug education.
Education programs are a central element of Australian harm reduction drug policy. Considered less judgmental and more effective than the punitive policies of Australia's past, harm reduction drug education is premised on the goal of reducing 'risks' and harms associated with illicit drug use rather than an elimination of use per se. In this article I analyse two sets of key texts designed to reduce drug related harm in Australia: harm reduction teaching resources designed for classroom use and social marketing campaigns that are targeted to a more general audience. ⋯ To demonstrate the potential limitations of current drug education, I refer to an established body of work examining young people's experiences of chroming. From here, I argue that the accounts of 'damaged mental health' and 'distress' may work to limit the capacity of young drug users to practice safer drug use. In sum, current Australian harm reduction drug education and social marketing may be producing rather than reducing drug related harm.