Published by De Gruyter

Volume 5 Issue 1

January 2012

Issue of Journal of Drug Policy Analysis

Contents
Journal Overview

Article

January 10, 2012

Marijuana Legalization: Certainty, Impossibility, Both, or Neither?

Jonathan P. Caulkins, Carolyn C. Coulson, Christina Farber, Joseph V. Vesely

Page range: 1-27

Abstract

Legalization has been debated for decades, but Californiaâs Fall 2010 vote on Proposition 19 makes passage seem suddenly more plausible. Proposition 19, which would have legalized not only personal consumption but also production and distribution to supply recreational use, was defeated narrowly (53.5% to 46.5%). This article synthesizes several threads of evidence concerning public support for legalization in the U.S. to shed light on the likelihood some similar effort will pass in the future. The overall conclusion is noncommittal, but the exercise generates a number of insights. In particular, simple what-if exercises suggest that the effects of generational turnover and voting occurring in a presidential vs. an âoffâ year may be smaller than some thought. The concluding section translates some of the observations into implications for both proponents and opponents of marijuana legalization.

January 19, 2012

A Review of Ohio's Treatment Capacity in Addressing the State's Opiate Epidemic

R. Thomas Sherba, Rick R. Massatti, Laura Potts, Surendra Bir Adhikari, Nicholas Martt, Sanford Starr, Theresa Porter Patel

Page range: 1-11

Abstract

Ohio is currently in the midst of an opiate epidemic. Persons seeking treatment for opiate addiction are now inundating treatment centers in every region of the state. To understand further the capacity of Ohio’s treatment system to address the needs of opiate abusing and dependent clients, the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS) surveyed all treatment providers regarding service wait times and treatment barriers. Nearly 80 percent of providers statewide participated (N = 193). Results concluded that the proportion of clients accessing services across Ohio with an opiate abuse/dependence diagnosis has increased over the past 12 months. Almost a third of providers reported that opiate addicted clients now make up more than a quarter of all clients served. The state’s current treatment system is challenged in addressing the needs of Ohio’s rapidly increasing number of opiate addicted clients. Nearly 80 percent of providers reported wait times for assessment services; providers most frequently reported wait times of several weeks for residential treatment; and practically half of referring providers to Suboxone®, and the majority of those referring to methadone programs, indicated difficulty in getting clients enrolled in medication-assisted treatment, citing capacity issues such as no program openings for methadone and lack of licensed physicians for Suboxone®. The opiate epidemic has increased wait times for treatment services across the state, further straining Ohio's treatment capacity in an already challenged behavioral healthcare system. New policies are needed to expand treatment capacity and to limit nonmedical use of prescription opiates.

December 19, 2012

Will the Obama Administration Implement a More Health-Oriented Approach to Drug Policy?

Keith Humphreys

Abstract

This paper reviews the first three years of drug policy in the Obama Administration, focusing in particular on whether policy has been and will continue to be “health-oriented”. Some advocates use the term “health-oriented” as a euphemism for legalization of the production, supply, advertising and use of currently illegal drugs. Such individuals would not consider the Obama drug policy “health-oriented” because it reflects the President’s longstanding opposition to drug legalization. Other observers use the term “health-oriented” to mean drug policies that enhance public health. From this perspective, the Obama policy has been unusually “health-oriented”. The administration has expanded health and social services for people with drug and alcohol problems to an extent not seen in 40 years or more. It has also eliminated harsh drug war rhetoric, reduced some criminal penalties for drug offenses, supported re-entry programs and alternatives to incarceration and overseen the first drop in the size of the incarcerated population in decades.

December 19, 2012

Strategies to Control Mexican Drug-Trafficking Violence

Mark A.R. Kleiman, Steven Davenport

Abstract

Drug law enforcement in source and transit countries such as Mexico naturally tends to increase the incentives for drug-related violence, unless enforcement is configured deliberately to create disincentives instead. A program of focused enforcement aimed sequentially at the most violent drug-dealing organizations in Mexico might succeed in reducing the current intolerable level of violence there.

About this journal

Objective

The journal　Journal of Drug Policy Analysis (JDPA) has ceased publication and no longer publishes with DeGruyter Publishing.

History

One issue/year, updated continuously
ISSN: 1941-2851
Content available since 2008 (Volume 1, Issue 1)