Introduction

Injection drug use is a risk factor for HIV, hepatitis B and C, infectious endocarditis, and overdose mortality and a serious public health and social problem. Each year, more than 1.5 million people inject drugs in the United States, and injection drug use is also widespread internationally; the effects of public policies on the extent of injection drug use are therefore important public health concerns.

Domestic drug policy in the United States and many other countries has largely been founded on the belief that arrests deter crime. Analysts such as Becker and Tonry and Wilson hold that punishment and stigmatization deter criminal behavior by making it costly for the perpetrator, an idea that has shaped policies to reduce drug use. For example, the International Narcotics Control Board stated.

Drug-related law enforcement strategies

Drug-related law enforcement strategies founded on deterrence theory are increasingly controversial because of their cost and, in the United States, their racially disparate effects. At this writing, an estimated 500 000 adults are serving time in a US prison or jail for a drug-related offense. The drug-related incarceration rate for African Americans is 756 per 100 000 adults, more than 8 times that of Whites (90 per 100 000 adults). The drug-related incarceration rate for Latinos falls between these 2 rates, at approximately 300 per 100 000 adults.

A recent estimate of the average annual expense per prisoner (i.e., the cost of inmate food, shelter, security, and medical care) is $23 876, suggesting that the United States is now spending almost $12 billion annually to incarcerate 500,000 inmates for drug-related offenses (this figure excludes the cost of drug-related policing initiatives and presentencing expenditures).

Random Drug Testing

Random, or “spot,” drug testing is a strong deterrent to drug users because it is conducted on an unannounced/unexpected basis.

Using a random selection process (e.g., computer-generated), an employer selects one or more individuals from all the employees included in the employer’s workplace drug-testing program. By using a random selection process, employers ensure that there is no bias and that all employees have an equal chance of being selected, even those who have been drug tested recently.

Random drug testing can be more effective at detecting and deterring drug use than pre-employment testing because employees do not know when they may be selected for testing. The use of narcotics, marijuana, hallucinogens, stimulants, and depressants has become a major cause of concern in our society. However, until recently, drug use does not appear to have been very extensive and seems to have been concentrated among the poor in a few large cities.

It has become a leading symptom of the “generation gap.” With this growth, there has been increasing attention to the physical and mental health implications of drug use and fear that use of some of the less-dangerous drugs will be followed by growth in use of heroin and other drugs. Of particular concern has been the advent of many newer drugs which threaten to lead to a society dependent upon them, and the association of drugs with cultures which challenge the established social order.

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Regards

Mary Wilson

Editorial office

Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Research

E-mail: pharmatoxicol@eclinicalsci.com