Commercial Determinants of Health
In the neverending hunt for financial rewards, poor consumer health can be viewed as collateral damage.
Category: Public Policy
Investments, costs, regulations, laws, courts and prisons– what helps? What’s useless or worse- harmful? What’s the cost to the taxpayer? And the economy? And the families? And, oh, yes… the people suffering from addictive disease?
Public Policy
Latest
A War with No Ending
At present, the emphasis is on interdiction, the supply side. Meanwhile, we struggle with cuts in resources for treatment and prevention – the demand side.
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Out of Focus
…plenty of Americans are involved as well, and presumably would continue their involvement in future, if they think they can get away with it.
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A Bad Cut, at a Bad Time
Lives are at stake. We can’t rely on hunches. We need facts.
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Not Necessarily Good News
…Trump’s order also calls on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to defund addiction programs that include “harm reduction.”
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A Complicated Question
…would prospective parents be dissuaded from giving birth in the hospital, fearing their newborn would be taken from them, and instead choose to have the birth in a less medically safe setting?
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A Bad Day For Baltimore
Harm reduction advocates argue that this means the city needs to open Supervised Injection Centers, or SIC’s, as a harm reduction measure.
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A bright idea?
The big players merge with or acquire local brands, then aggressively lobby politicians to restrict (or even prohibit) competition from independent businesses.
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Checkpoint Challenges
By the time an offender gets caught, they are thoroughly convinced by their own experience that the risk of apprehension is minimal. So they’re surprised, hurt, and more often than not, really angry.
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Europeans Drink, Too
Lobbying by the alcohol industry is also an issue in Europe. That won’t surprise us in America.
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Does Minimum Unit Pricing Work?
I’d have to call MUP a blunt instrument. One that does achieve its primary goal– that’s important– but not without possible consequences.
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To Qualify for Medical Pot…
As it turns out, most of the qualifying conditions weren’t well-supported by science. Then or now.
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Stiffer sentences? Maybe try something else…
Perhaps society should focus on finding solutions that are demonstrably effective, instead of simply boosting the severity of punishment.
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