 Recurring epidemics of pharmaceutical drug abuse in America: Time for an all-drug strategyD. Herzberg, H. Guarino, P. Mateu-Gelabert and A.S. Bennett American Journal of Public Health, 2016, vol. 106, issue 3, 408-410 Abstract: Observers describe today's "epidemic" of pharmaceutical drug abuse as a recent phenomenon, but we argue that it is only themost recent of three waves stretching back more than a century. During each wave, policies have followed a similar pattern: voluntary educational campaigns, followed by supply-side policing and\-sometimes\-public health responses that would today be understood as "harm reduction." These experiences suggest that only broad-based application of all three approaches to users of all drugs (not just pharmaceutical drugs) can produce a reduction in drug-related harm rather than merely shifting it from one type of drug to another. This has rarely happened because policy has been shaped by the racially chargeddivisionof drug users into deserving and morally salvageable victims, or fearsome and morally repugnant criminals. Keywords: naloxone; prescription drug, drug overdose; epidemic; harm reduction; human; Opioid-Related Disorders; public health service, Drug Overdose; Epidemics; Harm Reduction; Humans; Naloxone; Opioid-Related Disorders; Prescription Drugs; Public Health Practice (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302982_4 Access Statistics for this article American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association |
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