The activities of authorised agencies such as police, customs, border services, and investigative bodies to enforce drug control laws and address criminal activities related to the production, trafficking, and distribution of illicit substances. These activities may include investigations, intelligence gathering, interdiction, and collaboration with national and international partners to disrupt organised crime networks. Law enforcement plays an important role in protecting public safety and maintaining the rule of law, and is most effective when coordinated with broader public health, prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts as part of a balanced and comprehensive response to substance use.
Law Enforcement
Barriers to Addiction Treatment among Formerly Incarcerated Adults with Substance Use Disorders
Abstract Background Addiction treatment improves substance use and criminal recidivism outcomes among justice-involved individuals with substance use disorders, but is underutilized. Although information exists regarding barriers to...
Effectiveness Bank Matrix Cell: Reconciling the Interests of Community, Clients, and Families
Key studies on the roles of management in treatment’s impacts on crime and safeguarding the community, with a focus on criminal justice and child protection. Explore what research can offer managers who have to reconcile the interests of...
The Effect of Public Health-Oriented Drug Law Reform on HIV Incidence in People who Inject Drugs in Tijuana, Mexico
Summary Background As countries embark on public health-oriented drug law reform, health impact evaluations are needed. In 2012, Mexico mandated the narcomenudeo reform, which depenalised the possession of small amounts of drugs and...
Effectiveness Bank Matrix Cell: Coercion Tests Therapeutic Skills
Key studies on the contribution of the practitioner to reducing crime and safeguarding the community. Commentary risks formulating a general rule: The trickier the situation, the more the worker matters. Implication is that therapeutic...
More U.S. Stores Likely Sell Cigarettes to Minors than Reported
(Reuters Health) - More retailers may be selling cigarettes to minors than government estimates have suggested, a new study finds. Researchers determined that more than half of retail stores may be inadvertently, and illegally, selling...
Effectiveness Bank Hot Topic. Naltrexone Treatment of Offenders: Ethics and Evidence
Opinion is sharply divided on the ethics and effectiveness of pressuring opioid-dependent offenders to take the opiate-blocker naltrexone. Especially sharp is the controversy over long-acting products not approved for medical use in the UK...
Effectiveness Bank Matrix Cell: Intervening to Safeguard the Community
Key studies on treatment’s contribution to safeguarding the community and preventing crime. Commentary addresses two highly controversial issues: whether it is ever safe to leave children with seriously problematic drug users, and the...
Drug Use on Both Sides of the US-Mexico Border
Abstract Objective: To compare drug use for cities along the US-Mexico border. Materials and methods: Data are from the US-Mexico Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions (UMSARC, 2011-2013), a survey of 4,796 randomly selected Mexican and...
Naloxone in Homelessness Services
With drug-related deaths at the highest number since comparable statistics began, why aren’t more homelessness services using naloxone to prevent overdose deaths?
Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms 2007–2014
In 2014, the cost of substance use (SU) in Canada was $38.4 billion— or approximately $1,100 spent for every Canadian regardless of age. This report presents the estimates of the costs of SU in Canada from 2007 to 2014 using the most...