Drug Policy and the Public Good. This item is unavailable.Drug Policy and the Public Good

Drug use represents a significant burden to public health through disease, disability and social problems, and policy makers are becoming increasingly interested in how to develop evidence-based drug policy. It is therefore crucial to strengthen the links between addiction science and drug policy. Drug Policy and the Public Good is collaboratively written by an international group of career scientists to provide an analytical basis on which to build relevant global drug policies, and to inform policy makers who have direct responsibility for public health and social welfare. Drug Policy and the Public Good presents, in a comprehensive, practical, and readily accessible form, the accumulated scientific knowledge on illicit drugs that has direct relevance to the development of drug policy on local, national, and international levels. The authors describe the conceptual basis for a rational drug policy and present new epidemiological data on the global dimensions of drug misuse. The core of the book is a critical review of the cumulative scientific evidence in five general areas of drug policy: primary prevention programs in schools and other settings; supply reduction approaches, including drug interdiction and legal enforcement; treatment interventions and harm reduction approaches; criminal sanctions and decriminalization; and control of the legal market through prescription drug regimes. The final chapters discuss the current state of drug policy in different parts of the in different parts of the world, and describe the need for a new approach to drug policy that is evidence-based, realistic, and co-ordinated.The authors describe the conceptual basis for a rational drug policy and present new epidemiological data on the global dimensions of drug misuse. The core of the book is a critical review of the cumulative scientific evidence in five general areas of drug policy: primary prevention programs in schools and oth

Thomas Babor is a Professor and Chairman in the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He holds the University's Physicians Health Service endowed chair in Public Health and Community Medicine. Dr. Babor received his doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Arizona in 1971. He spent several years in postdoctoral research training in social psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and subsequently served as head of social science research at McLean Hospital's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center in Belmont, Massachusetts. Since 1997 he has been chairman of the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He is Associate Editor-in-Chief as well as Regional Editor of the international journal, Addiction. His research interests include screening, diagnosis, early intervention, and treatment evaluation, as well as cultural and policy issues to alcohol and drug problems. Jonathan P. Caulkins is Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Qatar campus in Doha and its Heinz School of Public Policy. He currently holds a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. Dr. Caulkins specializes in mathematical modeling and systems analysis with a particular focus on social policy systems pertaining to drugs, crime, terror, violence, and prevention. Other interests include software quality, optimal control, airline operations, and personnel performance evaluation. At R.A.N.D. he has been a consultant, visiting scientist, co-director of R.A.N.D.'s Drug Policy Research Center (1994 - 1996), and founding director of R.A.N..D's Pittsburgh office (1999-2001). Dr. Caulkins received a B.S., and M.S. in Systems Science from Washington University, an S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Ph.D., in Operations Research both from M.I.T. Griffith Edwards qualified in medicine and subsequently specialised in the study and treatment of substance misuse. Holder of Jellinek award (International Alcohol Research prize) and Nathan Eddy Award (International Drugs Research prize). Distinguished Fellow of the Society for the Study of Addiction. Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Benedikt Fischer, Professor and C.I.H.R./P.H.A.C. Chair in Applied Public Health, Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addic