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2004-12-01
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation;
Rethinking Crime & Punishment (RCP) is an initiative set up by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation in response to concern about the growing reliance on imprisonment in the UK. The specific aims of RCP and its 57 projects have been to increase public knowledge about prison and address alternatives to it. Conceptual reframings for policy makers, practitioners and the public are therefore proposed.
2005-01-06
Research Center for Leadership in Action;
At the Triangle Residential Option for Substance Abusers (TROSA), a North Carolina residential treatment program, Executive Director Kevin McDonald and his colleagues have advanced a social entrepreneurial model for nearly a decade. In the process, they've built hundreds of active, engaged citizens, not just sober individuals.
2009-04-02
Cato Institute;
On July 1, 2001, a nationwide law in Portugal took effect that decriminalized all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Under the new legal framework, all drugs were "decriminalized," not "legalized." Thus, drug possession for personal use and drug usage itself are still legally prohibited, but violations of those prohibitions are deemed to be exclusively administrative violations and are removed completely from the criminal realm. Drug trafficking continues to be prosecuted as a criminal offense. While other states in the European Union have developed various forms of de facto decriminalization -- whereby substances perceived to be less serious (such as cannabis) rarely lead to criminal prosecution -- Portugal remains the only EU member state with a law explicitly declaring drugs to be "decriminalized." Because more than seven years have now elapsed since enactment of Portugal's decriminalization system, there are ample data enabling its effects to be assessed. Notably, decriminalization has become increasingly popular in Portugal since 2001. Except for some far-right politicians, very few domestic political factions are agitating for a repeal of the 2001 law. And while there is a widespread perception that bureaucratic changes need to be made to Portugal's decriminalization framework to make it more efficient and effective, there is no real debate about whether drugs should once again be criminalized. More significantly, none of the nightmare scenarios touted by preenactment decriminalization opponents -- from rampant increases in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a haven for "drug tourists" -- has occurred. The political consensus in favor of decriminalization is unsurprising in light of the relevant empirical data. Those data indicate that decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent criminalization regimes. Although postdecriminalization usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug-related pathologies -- such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage -- have decreased dramatically. Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens -- enhancements made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization. This report will begin with an examination of the Portuguese decriminalization framework as set forth in law and in terms of how it functions in practice. Also examined is the political climate in Portugal both pre- and postdecriminalization with regard to drug policy, and the impetus that led that nation to adopt decriminalization. The report then assesses Portuguese drug policy in the context of the EU's approach to drugs. The varying legal frameworks, as well as the overall trend toward liberalization, are examined to enable a meaningful comparative assessment between Portuguese data and data from other EU states. The report also sets forth the data concerning drug-related trends in Portugal both pre- and postdecriminalization. The effects of decriminalization in Portugal are examined both in absolute terms and in comparisons with other states that continue to criminalize drugs, particularly within the EU. The data show that, judged by virtually every metric, the Portuguese decriminalization framework has been a resounding success. Within this success lie self-evident lessons that should guide drug policy debates around the world.
2002-02-01
John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development;
A survey of employers' attitudes regarding the prevalence of drugs in the workplace, how employee drug use impacts their firm, and the effectiveness of company policies to treat and prevent employee substance abuse.
2000-09-08
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, The;
This report released by CASA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) demonstrates how the high financial stakes for all involved in the Olympics, the explosion in performance-enhancing drugs and the lack of an effective policing system to detect the use of such drugs threaten the very integrity of the Olympic games. Because athletes are important role models for our children, the use of performance-enhancing drugs (a practice called doping in the international sports community) by Olympic athletes threatens the health of America's children, concludes this report of the CASA National Commission on Sports and Substance Abuse, chaired by Rev. Edward A. (Monk) Malloy, president of the University of Notre Dame.
2008-06-23
National Coalition for the Homeless;
The relationship between homelessness and alcohol and drug addiction is quite controversial. While addictive disorders appear disproportionately among the homeless population, such disorders cannot, by themselves, explain the increase in homelessness. Most drug and alcohol addicts never become homeless. However, people who are poor and addicted are clearly at increased risk.
2002-01-19
Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS);
In 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reviewed evidence of the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs for injection drug users (IDUs) and recommended that three types of
interventions be implemented to prevent transmission of HIV among IDUs: 1) community-based outreach, 2) expanded syringe access (including needle exchange programs [NEP] and pharmacy sales), and 3) drug treatment. Progress on increasing the acceptance and feasibility of implementing these programs has been made at the national level, but their implementation has been varied at the local level.
Understanding the conditions under which communities accept and implement interventions can help guide effective strategies to foster the implementation of these interventions in areas where programs do not currently exist.
1993-10-01
Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS);
The goal of the project was: "To assess the public health impact of needle exchange programs." Fourteen research questions were identified; Chapters 5 through 18 of Volume I of the report each address one of these research questions. The study consisted of four components: 1) formal review of existing research, 2) NEP site visits; 3) mail surveys of NEPs not visited; and 4) cost-effectiveness modeling.
2009-03-01
MDRC;
Participants in an intensive care management program for public assistance recipients with substance abuse problems were slightly more likely to enroll in treatment than participants in less intensive services. However, the intensive program had no effects on employment or public benefit receipt among the full sample.
2009-06-16
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP);
Legislators in a number of states have proposed to test all TANF recipients for drug use. This brief explains that random drug testing may be unconstitutional, and is a costly and ineffective way to identify individuals in need of substance abuse treatment. Screening, targeted testing programs, and enhanced treatment options are a better approach to helping TANF families affected by substance abuse.
2009-07-01
Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS);
UFO Presents! is a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded program providing much needed hepatitis education, prevention and care services for youth and young adults with injection risk in San Francisco, CA. We aim to meet the broader needs of youth and young adults through comprehensive health and psychosocial support. We are the most experienced group in San Francisco in providing hepatitis, HIV and STI prevention services tailored to young adult IDU, a group with few other health-related resources or programs tailored directly to them.
2006-07-01
Sentencing Project, The;
A new major study disproving the popular belief that there exists a growing methamphetamine "epidemic" within the United States. 41 pages
