Many of the policies shown to benefit the public's health in research studies are never widely implemented. We conducted a qualitative and exploratory multiple-case study of three U.S. academic research-policy translation initiatives that resulted in the development, enactment and/or implementation of evidence-based policies to address public…

Aims: Scotland was the first country to adopt take-home naloxone (THN) as a funded public health policy. We summarise the background and rigorous set-up for before/after monitoring to assess the impact on high-risk opiate-fatalities. Methods: Evidence-synthesis of prospectively monitored small-scale THN schemes led to a performance indicator for…

The EU Action Plan on Drugs (2005-2008) calls for member states of the European Union to provide information on five key epidemiological indicators. These are: general population surveys, prevalence and patterns of problem drug use, drug related infectious diseases, drug related deaths and mortality of drug users, and demand for drug treatment.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the research evidence on recent British trends in the use of heroin and/or crack-cocaine by young people in order to appraise the scale and nature of the contemporary health problem they pose. Design/methodology/approach: The approach consists of a narrative review of the main current data sources on…

In recent years, disrupting the supply of illicit drugs and injecting equipment inside Her Majesty's (HM) prisons has become an important focus for prison drug policy. This paper presents findings from qualitative research, which invited 24 drug injectors with prison experience to discuss the role and operation of illicit drug and injecting…