Assessing the impact of laws and policies regulating illicit drugs on health and society: some insights
About
The goal of drug control laws and policies must be the health and well-being of humanity. Therefore, the scientific, especially quantitative, approach must be used to evaluate current laws and policies. The proposed session highlights some important topics that illustrate tools for scientific evaluation of various aspects of drug laws and policies. Some approaches have already been used in pilot form others will find development and application in the future with 5 presentations titled: 1.Drug laws indicators through the leximetric approach and relationship with effectiveness: the example of Italy in the period 1991-2018. 2.Hospitalization risk profile of opioids users. 3.Using Supply Indicators in the Evaluation of Drug Supply Reduction – Challenges and Opportunities. 4.Estimating the size of the of illicit drug market – a critical review. 5.Estimating the costs of the criminal justice system Discussion will attempt to show how the efforts to create credible estimates of drug market size and the development of robust supply side indicators can support stronger assessments of effectiveness.