Kioloa08-Illicit drug use working group
From COSNet
| Mind Games at Kioloa 2008 |
Contents |
Introduction
- “Drug use is a result of a complex, dynamic interplay of posited risk and protective factors that operate at multiple levels of analysis. At the individual level, biological predispositions, personality traits, and cognitive mechanisms can increase or decrease the likelihood that adolescents will experiment with drugs, as well as the likelihood that they will become physically or psychologically dependent on drugs. At the interpersonal level, social influences from peers, family members, and other role models or networks can influence individuals’ perceptions of the social norms surrounding drug use, which then can influence their own use of drugs” (Unger et al., 2004).
Research Questions for Kioloa
(please add)
Background
Data
Example
Working in the field
Reading
(please add refs/links as you think-of/find them)
Directly related to illicit drug use
Relevant science
Complexity in illicit drug use
There are different approaches in this problem.
1) We could stop drugs from being produced at all (attack the 'chemists' who produce them) (this may be impossible)
2) Attack the people who purchase drugs from the sources of production - these people are likely to be 'big' drug dealers and buy in bulk for further distribution
3) We could increase law enforcement on the streets, discouraging street dealings (Attack dealers 'lower' on the hierarchy of drug traffickers)
These first three points attempt to decrease the supply of drugs available (by putting pressure on the sellers). We could also attempt to decrease the demand for illicit drugs (by decreasing the number of buyers) - raising awareness of the health issues associated with drug usage will decrease the demand for illicit drugs.
Note that by taking action 3) above will also decrease the number of buyers, as law enforcement will not only punish those who were selling the drugs on the street, but also those who are buying the drugs. Below are the names of 2 well written papers which use mathematics to investigate the impact that law enforcement has on the number of drug dealers/buyers.
