Developing a Transformative Drug Policy Research Agenda in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID11056969
AuthorsIngrid Walker (University of Washington, Tacoma, WA, USA, corresponding author), Julie Netherland (Drug Policy Alliance, New York, NY, USA)
Year2019
Volume46
Issue1
Pages3-21
Publication date2019-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Drug Problems (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-4509 • E-ISSN: 2163-1808
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0091450918811178
OpenAlexW2903484802
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited84

Despite its strengths, drug policy scholarship in the United States has deficiencies and systemic biases that contribute to misinformation about drugs and people who use drugs. Factors ranging from funders’ biases to an overemphasis on abstinence-only outcomes limit the scope and focus of drug policy research. These deficiencies and the highly politicized nature of drug policy reform have led U.S. decision-makers to largely reproduce the uninformed thinking that epitomizes failed drug policies. In an effort to address some of these limitations, we designed Unbounded Knowledge: Envisioning a New Future for Drug Policy Research, a project to engage researchers in thinking about how U.S. drug policy research should be transformed. The project involved a diverse group of multidisciplinary drug researchers and clinicians in a focused collaboration to identify what drug research should be—but is not—studying in the U.S. It consisted of: (1) a preliminary series of interviews with researchers, (2) identification of common research constraints and factors that would transform the direction of drug policy research in the U.S., and (3) a daylong workshop to craft an aspirational research agenda. Participants were broadly in consensus that significant changes are needed to create different ways to conduct drug policy research and new opportunities within the research environment. They also generated specific ideas for research that could better shape U.S. drug policies in ways that move beyond the dominant focus on criminalization and medicalization. This article offers recommendations generated by the project for improving drug policy research in the U.S

Engineering ethics · Political science · Public relations · Scholarship · Scope (computer science) · Sociology · Transformative learning · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Health Policy Implementation Science · Law · Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient Outcomes

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