When is a derivative not a derivative?

This article presents what Americans think about the policies subsumed under the label of the "War on Drugs." It is based on an analysis of 47 national surveys conducted between 1978 and 1997. The major results are that most Americans rely on the mass media for information about the scope of the drug abuse problem; Americans do not think that the Wars on Drugs have succeeded, but they do not want to quit on these efforts; weak support exists for increasing funding for drug treatment; support for preventive education has increased during the 1990s; criminal justice responses remain very popular; for many, illicit drug use is a moral rather than a public health issue; the public supports allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana for severe illness, but opposes the general legalization of marijuana and other illicit drugs; and needle exchange programs are supported by a bare majority, but only when they are told that the American Medical Association supports these programs.

Drug and Narcotic Control↗

PubMed1998

The 'drug value' in the European pharmaceutical system.

European regulatory authorities (EMEA, European Commission) and/or national pharmacological and medical decision-makers can utilise the drug value to help themselves to decide which drugs to define as really innovative instead of new, which regulations to implement, which drugs to include on formularies, or which restrictions to enforce. As economic research becomes widely accepted for pharmaceutical evaluation, it needs to utilise prospective rather than retrospective study design. Analyses conducted at the time of therapy have better access to patients and can obtain both more accurate information on consumption of resources and the impact of pharmacotherapy on non-monetary quality of life for patients, survival, comparative clinical effectiveness and economic outcomes within social health service or in wider economy.

Drug and Narcotic Control↗