Drug Policy and the Public Good:A Summary of the Second Edition

The second edition of Drug Policy and the Public Good presents up-to-date evidence relating to the development of drug policy at local, national, and international levels. The book explores both illicit drug use and nonmedical use of prescription medications from a public health perspective. The core of the book is a critical review of the scientific evidence in five areas of drug policy: 1) primary prevention programs in schools and other settings; 2) treatment interventions and harm reduction approaches; 3) attempts to control the supply of illicit drugs, including drug interdiction and law enforcement; 4) penal approaches, decriminalization and other alternatives; and 5) control of the legal market through prescription drug regimes. It also discusses the trend toward legalization of some psychoactive substances in some countries and the need for a new approach to drug policy that is evidence-based, realistic, and coordinated. The accumulated evidence provides important information about effective and ineffective policies. Shifting the emphasis toward a public health approach should reduce the extent of illicit drug use, prevent the escalation of new epidemics, and avoid the unintended consequences arising from the marginalization of drug users through severe criminal penalties.</p

Volatile Substance Misuse Among High School Students in South America

This article summarizes data from a 2004 study of over 300,000 high school students (aged 13–18 years) in nine South American countries. A probabilistic sample targeted urban secondary schools, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire on prevalence and frequency of substance use. Multivariate analysis showed that volatile substances were the first or second most commonly reported substances used after alcohol and cigarettes in all countries (lifetime prevalence range: 2.67% [Paraguay] to 16.55% [Brazil]). Previous studies have highlighted volatile substance misuse among street children, whereas this study demonstrates that it is common among South American high school students

Vulnerability discourses and drug mule work: Legal approaches in sentencing and non-prosecution/non-punishment norms

This article analyses the meaning of vulnerability in discourses about drug mules and couriers at a national and international level, particularly the cases of Costa Rica and England and Wales. Drawing on policies, legislative reforms and court cases, it examines how vulnerability mobilised claims for more proportionality in sentencing practices for drug offences. Vulnerability discourses also underpin claims that drug mules are trafficked persons whose culpability should be extinguished, or at least, diminished. Yet, this article suggests vulnerability discourses can also reinforce neoliberal governance mechanisms rather than expose and critique the ways in which gender and racial histories of oppression intersect with the international drug control system, contributing to the precarity of drug mule work

ADAPTATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SCIENCE-BASED PREVENTION SYSTEM IN COLOMBIA: CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

During the last 2 years, the Colombian government and the Nuevos Rumbos Corporation have been implementing an adapted version of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system, called Comunidades Que se Cuidan (CQC) in Spanish, for use in Colombia. This brief report presents the process of implementing CQC and identifies some of the main challenges and achievements of implementing the system in eight communities in Colombia. Preliminary results of a pilot study of CQC implementation in Colombia show that prevention system development, including a focus on measuring community risk and protection, can be established successfully in Latin American communities despite a lack of rigorously tested prevention programs and strategies. Moreover, mobilizing community coalitions toward science-based prevention, with a focus on examining local risk and protective factor data, can spur development and evaluation of prevention efforts in Latin America

Effect of appreciation for Indigenous cultures and exposure to racial insults on alcohol and drug use initiation among multiethnic Argentinean youth

This study evaluated the effect of factors reflecting appreciation of Indigenous culture and racial insults on alcohol and drug use initiation among multi-ethnic youth in Jujuy, Argentina. Students were surveyed from 27 secondary schools that were randomly selected to represent the province. A total of 3,040 eligible students in 10(th) grade, age 14 to 18 years were surveyed in 2006 and 2,660 of these same students completed surveys in 11th grade in 2007. Multivariate logistic regression models assessed the effect of appreciation for Indigenous cultures and reported exposure to racial insults in 10th grade on incident current alcohol drinking in previous 30 days, binge drinking (≥5 drinks at one sitting), and lifetime drug use (marijuana, inhalants or cocaine) in 11th grade among students not reporting these behaviors in 2006. In 2006, 63% of respondents reported high appreciation for Indigenous cultures and 39% had ever experienced racial insults. In 2007, incident current drinking was 24.4%, binge drinking 14.8%, and any drug use initiation was 4.1%. Exposure to racial insults increased the likelihood of binge drinking (OR=1.6; 95% CI 1.2–2.1) but was not significant for any drug use. Appreciation for Indigenous cultures reduced the risk of any drug use initiation (OR=0.5, 95% CI 0.3–0.7) but had no effect for alcohol drinking outcomes. These effects were independent of Indigenous ethnicity. Enhancing appreciation for Indigenous cultures and decreasing racial insults are achievable goals that can be incorporated into programs to prevent youth substance use