Reducing Drug Policy Harms Through Police-Led Reform: What Works, Where and Why?

1971年的《滥用药物法》是目前禁止拥有、供应、种植、进口和出口受管制物质的首要立法，它将禁止作为解决英国毒品问题的主要战略。对药物政策改革的呼吁与药物政策本身一样古老（例如Berridge， 2013年），并且经常促进对吸毒者进行必要的支持和治疗，而不是惩罚（皇家公共卫生学会，2016年）。对其他人来说，减少伤害可以通过不执行法律来实现。英格兰和威尔士各地的各种警察部队现在正在采用替代方法来监管毒品使用，而不是通过严格的执法，要么通过事实上的非刑事化，要么通过将毒品犯罪者从刑事司法系统中转移出来。本项目着眼于推动警察主导的法律改革的根源，并概述了为解决毒品问题而采取新办法的案例（n= 3至5）。在此过程中，它还将审议其他地方更广泛的警察主导的转移注意力政策的一些障碍和促进因素。它将强调改革之间的背景相似性和差异性，并试图评估这些计划对警察资源、再犯罪和与毒品政策有关的危害措施以及该部门的影响。研究目的和问题：本研究的总体目标是揭示警察领导的毒品法改革是如何以及在何处实施的，由谁实施的，在什么情况下实施的，以及产生了什么结果？什么是毒品相关的危害？在特定地区是如何表现的？改革方案背后的变革理论是什么？3. 那些设计、发展和实施这些方案的人如何理解改革？从改革中出现的新证据是什么？释放中心和伙伴组织可以以何种方式利用从地方部队转移的证据基础来促进未来的循证干预？研究问题1和2将涉及审查关于其他地方（如澳大利亚、葡萄牙）实施的毒品危害和转移计划的学术文献，以及确定灰色材料和媒体报道的范围，以绘制和记录最近警察主导的毒品政策改革的例子。文献综述应该允许对转移计划背后的变化理论和这种发展的预期结果进行分析。这些发现将与来自每个地区的匿名精英访谈进行交叉参考，访谈对象包括PCCs、警察、非政府组织、地方当局、公共卫生官员，他们将研究计划背后的理论如何与参与实施计划的关键利益相关者的观点相对应。这将解决研究问题3。访谈还将提供问题4的部分答案，并将以回归灰色文献和政策文件作为补充。问题5将需要学生和发行部门就产出的种类以及如何最有效地向目标受众传播这些产出密切合作。这项研究将得到伯明翰大学的伦理许可。

The 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act - the overarching piece of legislation that currently outlaws the possession, supply, cultivation, importation and exportation of controlled substances - enshrined prohibition as the primary strategy for addressing the UK drug problem. Calls for drug policy reform are as old as drug policy itself (e.g. Berridge, 2013) and frequently promote responses where people who use drugs are supported and treated if required, rather than punished (Royal Society of Public Health, 2016). For others, reducing harm can occur through non-enforcement of the law. Various police forces around England and Wales are now adopting alternative approaches to policing drug use away from strict law enforcement either through de facto decriminalisation or through diverting drug offenders away from the criminal justice system. This project looks at the origins of the impetus for police-led law reform and provides an overview of cases (n= 3 to 5) where new approaches have been adopted to address the drug problem. In doing so, It will also consider some of the barriers and facilitators to more widespread police-led, diversionary policies elsewhere. It will highlight the contextual similarities and differences between reforms and seek to assess the impact of these schemes on police resources, re-offending and measures of drug policy-related harm and the sector. Research Aims & Questions:The overarching aim of this study is to uncover how and where police-led drug law reform has been implemented, by whom and in what circumstances and with what outcomes?1. What is meant by drug-related harm and how is this manifested in specific locales?2. What is the theory of change behind reform schemes? 3. How are reforms understood by those designing, developing and implementing such schemes?4. What is the emerging evidence from the reforms?5. In what way can the evidence base for diversion from local forces be used by Release and partner organizations to promote future evidence-informed future interventions?Methodological ApproachResearch questions 1 and 2 will involve a review of the academic literature on drug harms and diversionary schemes implemented elsewhere (e.g. Australia, Portugal) as well as scoping grey materials and media reports to map out and document recent examples of police led drug policy reforms. The literature review should allow for an analysis of the theory of change behind diversionary schemes and the intended outcomes of such developments. These findings will be cross-referenced with anonymous, elite interviews from each area with PCCs, police, NGOs, Local Authorities, public health officials looking at how the theory behind the schemes corresponds to the views of key stakeholders involved in their implementation. This will address research question 3. The interviews will also provide partial answers to question 4, which will be supplemented with a return to the grey literature and policy documents. Question 5 will entail close collaboration between the student and Release on the kinds of outputs to be produced and how these can be disseminated most effectively to target audiences. The research will be subject to ethical clearance from the University of Birmingham.