Programs Dealing With Drugs

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Programs and Organizations Dealing With Drugs

Community-based drug treatment programs can help troubled teens reduce substance abuse and improve their psychological health, according a RAND Corporation study issued today that is one of the most thorough examinations ever of the effectiveness of a commonly available treatment approach.

Even though many of the links and much of the material on this page is from USA sources, they are pertinent to Canada's involvement in controlling drug use.

Methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) Facts

drugwarfacts.org “A valuable resource for anyone concerned with drug policy.” — Ira Rosen, Senior Producer, ABC News “A compendium of facts that fly in the face of accepted wisdom.” — David F. Duncan, Clinical Associate Professor, Brown University Medical School

www.rand.org Our goal at the Drug Policy Research Center is to provide a firm, empirical foundation on which sound drug policies can be built. It's a goal we have pursued with energy, commitment, and skill since 1989.

Researchers found that teen probationers enrolled in a drug treatment program that follows a widely used care model were more likely to curb their drug use and have better psychological health such as fewer symptoms of depression than their peers who received other probation services such as camps, detention or long-term placements that were not focused on treating substance abuse.

Drug Policy Alliance The Alliance is the nation's leading organization working to end the war on drugs. We envision new drug policies based on science, compassion, health and human rights and a just society in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more.

Treatment vs. Incarceration – Compiled by Drug Policy Alliance. 2002.

By White House estimates, 57 percent of people who need drug treatment do not receive it (1), in spite of its proven superior cost effectiveness over criminal justice approaches in reducing drug abuse and related social costs.

In 1999, the New Mexico Corrections Department housed 5,127 inmates (not including city and county jails). Eighty-seven percent of state inmates were diagnosed with substance misuse disorders.

• Former Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey stated, “Approximately five million drug users needed immediate treatment in 1998 while only 2.1 million received it. Limited funding is a major factor in the availability of treatment.”
• The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES) found that with treatment, drug selling decreased by 78%, shoplifting declined by almost 82%, and assaults declined by 78%. Furthermore, there was a 64% decrease in arrests for any crime, and the percentage of people who largely supported themselves through illegal activity dropped by nearly half, decreasing by 48%.
• A study by the RAND Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs (crime, violence, loss of productivity, etc.) The study also found that additional domestic law enforcement efforts cost 15 times as much as treatment to achieve the same reduction in societal costs.
• The same study found that treatment is 10 times more cost effective than interdiction in reducing the societal costs of cocaine.

The Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy (CFDP) A non-profit organization founded in 1993 by several of Canada's leading specialists in drug policy. Its founding members include psychologists, pharmacologists, lawyers, health policy advocates and public policy researchers. The Foundation is funded entirely by its members and by contributions from other organizations with an interest in drug policy reform.

Legalization, decriminalization, harm reduction, or status quo?

While there is a great deal of support for drug law reform in the Canadian media surveyed for this study, the model of reform to be followed is still very much a matter of debate. Legalization is advocated on the grounds of freedom of choice and the individual's right to privacy. Criminalization rests on claims about government's moral responsibility to protect its citizens and maintain law and order. However, the growing body of pragmatic arguments for drug law reform suggests the possibility of a compromise between these two extremes.

Many people drawn to and convinced by practical arguments are uncomfortable with the legalization model because of the stamp of approval it may confer upon drug use. This middle ground between the polarized legalize–criminalize camps is less charged, both politically and morally.

**the Drug Reform Coordination Network was founded in 1993 and has grown into a major educational and advocacy organization and network of citizens working for reform of US drug laws and an end to prohibition, or legalization, worldwide.

The AIDS epidemic is exploding in new populations around the world, particularly in developing nations whose resources for offering the expensive treatments common in more wealthy nations are much more scant. According to a statement this week by Human Rights Watch, drug injecting accounts for a majority of HIV cases in China, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, the Baltic states, and all of Central Asia, as well as much of Southeast Asia and South America. Russia, HRW points out, has more HIV cases now than all of North American, and drug injection is responsible for as many as 80% of them.

The Fraser Institute Celebrating our 30th year as an independent public policy organization, The Fraser Institute focuses on the role competitive markets play in providing for the economic and social well-being of all Canadians and as an international forum for policy ideas.

Institute for Policy Studies Drug Policy Project The IPS Drug Policy Project advocates for reform by reaching out to non-traditional allies and employing innovative tactics to promote a sustainable, constitutional, and humane drug control policy. The project's mission is to help foster a paradigm shift by replacing the punitive and coercive “social control” model of drug policy with a public health and community economic development model.

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