Citation

McKetin R. Addiction 2009; 104(3): 455-456.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02502.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Cunningham and colleagues provide what is probably the most compelling evidence to date that precursor regulations, or indeed any supply control strategy, can have significant impacts on the retail market for illicit drugs. This research is particularly interesting if considered in the context of Cunningham's earlier work, which has shown that precursor regulations are followed by significant reductions in methamphetamine-related arrests and hospital admissions. Linking these reductions to changes in the retail market for illicit methamphetamine (i.e. decreased purity), and showing that precursor regulations impact specifically on methamphetamine, fortifies the argument that precursor regulations are responsible for reductions in methamphetamine-related harms. This research is ground-breaking, in that it paves the way towards a more sophisticated analysis of how supply reduction interventions impact on harms from illicit drug use.