The development of an Australian drug policy index

1
The development of an Australian drug policy index

• Assoc Prof Alison Ritter
• Director, Drug Policy Modelling Program (DPMP)
• University of New South Wales

2
An Index?

• Measuring drug policy important
• Complicated because
• - Multiple domains of interest
• law enforcement, harm reduction, treatment,
  prevention
• No agreement on the outcomes
• - - Value judgements come into play
• - Benefits to one section of the community may
  mean harms to another section of the community
• Single common metric
• Ecological footprint
• DALY

3
Existing indexes

• UNODC Illicit Drug Index
• Purpose compare countries/regions over time
• 3 parts production, trafficking, abuse
• UK Drug Harm Index
• Purpose monitor progress of Drug Strategy
• 3 parts crime community problems health
• AFP Drug Harm Index
• Purpose value to Aus community of seizures
• value of harm averted (if seizures were not
  seized)
• Consumption x social cost of harms, kg
  consumed/harm, harm per kg
• Harm Index rankings (Nutt et al., 2007)
• Victoria Police
• New Zealand Illegal Drug Harm Index
• DPMP Drug Harm Index

4
Different purposes and metrics

• Purposes
• Compare regions/states/countries (UNODC IDI)
• Performance monitoring (UK DHI)
• Compare drugs (Nutt)
• Establish societal benefits (social costs) (AFP)
• Compare policies (model scenarios) (DPMP)
• And use different metrics vs

5
Different outcomes

• What is success?
• Reduction in number of users?
• Reductions in amount of use per user?
• Reductions in harm?
• Reductions in availability of drug (seizures,
  price, purity)?

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The DPMP Drug Policy Index

• Comparison of different policies and their
  effects
• Purpose
• To compare policy scenarios or options
• Objective measure of policy impacts
• Can compare disparate policy intervention types
  (law enforcement, treatment, prevention, harm
  reduction)

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Our approach

• Chosen outcomes
• Health consequences
• Crime consequences
• Labour market impacts
• Community outcomes
• Consequence x of users
• Metric? Social cost
• Why ?
• Unit that can be measured across diverse impacts
• Implicit weighting of consequences
• Intuitive for policy makers and community

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Not one single index

• social cost per user per year for
• Type of user
• Dependent users
• Non-dependent users
• Type of drug
• Cannabis
• Heroin
• Amphetamine
• Cocaine
• Amount of drug (kg, gram)

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First estimates (by Tim Moore)

• Estimate health, crime and road accident costs
• Dependent users non-dependent users
• Drug types (cannabis, heroin, amphetamine)
• Estimate prevalence
• Numbers of users
• Estimate consumption (kg, grams)
• Social cost per user per year (1x2)
• Social cost per kg per year (1x2x3)
• Sensitivity analyses

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Results cost per user
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Results cost per kg
Moore, T. (2007) Monograph No. 14 Working
estimates of the social costs per gram and per
user for cannabis, cocaine, opiates and
amphetamines, in DPMP Monograph Series. National
Drug and Alcohol Research Centre Sydney.
Available at http//www.dpmp.unsw.edu.au
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Feasibility assessment

• Usefulness of the figures in policy analysis
• Cannabis intervention
• Methamphetamine treatment vs law enforcement
• Key stakeholder impressions
• Methodological issues
• Data problems
• Time scale and time lags
• Economic method eg marginal costs,
  infrastructure costs
• Does not include benefits
• Does not deal with polydrug use, drug
  substitution
• Country specific (because social costs)

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Concluding comments

• DPMP Index comparison of policy options
• Other Indexes other purposes
• Complicated work
• But worthwhile interest and commitment
• Process of development invaluable to policy
  debates
• Measuring outcomes of policy vital for continuous
  improvement
• Better policies
• Better outcomes for drug users and the community

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Further information

• Assoc Prof Alison Ritter
• Drug Policy Modelling Program, Director
• National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
• UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
• E alison.ritter_at_unsw.edu.au
• T 61 (2) 9385 0236
• DPMP website
• http//www.dpmp.unsw.edu.au