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US drug policy: A dynamic system of change in a multi-level environment
Description: This paper uses ecological systems theory and primary data to present how drug policy has been and continues to be developed and applied in the US.
Lessons Learned: Macro-level US drug policy should be understood as two connected yet separate policy levels: federal and state. The mezzo level includes systems and institutions such as public health, treatment and criminal justice. The micro level includes non-systems-level collective advocacy (organizing ballot initiatives and referendums), as well as individual attitudes and behaviors of abstainers, users, substance abuse treatment participants, etc. Each level exerts direct and reciprocal influences within and across other levels.
Recommendations: Recognition and understanding of the multi-level nature of drug policy in the US can strengthen efforts to bring levels of system balance to the very complex recursive US drug policy continuum. There are many potential levers of change that too often have been under-utilized, including recognition of the active role of systems/institutions—such as public health—in policy implementation.
Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health educationPublic health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health
Learning Objectives:
Explain the multi-level nature of drug policy in the US and how it impacts access to needed services.
Identify drug policy participants in specific geographic locations to improve the public’s health.
Describe ways in which various drug policy participants may be able to strengthen the drug policy environment.
Keyword(s): Policy/Policy Development, Drug Abuse
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have participated in substance-related policy research for the last 15 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.