Citation

Werb D. Int. J. Drug Policy 2018; 51: 160-164.

Affiliation

Division of Global Public Health, University of California San Diego, United States; Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: dwerb@ucsd.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.06.012

PMID

28734744

Abstract

The prevention of drug use is one of the primary goals of the War on Drugs. However, despite investment in high-profile interventions such as social marketing campaigns and enforcement-based deterrence, these efforts have generally failed. With the emergence of novel policy frameworks to control and regulate drug use, a window of opportunity exists to test approaches to drug prevention that take into account existing evidence and the rights of individuals who use drugs. Specifically, there is a growing consensus that entry into drug use is a socially-defined event that individuals experience within particular socio-structural contexts. This understanding, coupled with a distinction between the value of preventing problematic drug use rather than all drug use, provides a useful framework within which to develop effective and rights-based approaches to drug prevention.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en