Investigating the Utility of Indexes in Comparative Drug Policy Analysis

This PhD project by Vivienne Moxham-Hall explored the development of composite indexes, which combine multiple dimensions of a policy into a single score, and how they may be used in comparative drug policy analysis.

Two indexes were developed: the Australian Cannabis Laws and Regulations (ACLRI), which measured the severity of cannabis laws in each state and territory, with higher scores indicating more severe cannabis control laws, and the Opioid Overdose Prevention Index (OOPI) which quantified the introduction and effectiveness of opioid overdose prevention laws concerned with naloxone access and Good Samaritan provisions across 51 US states between 2000 and 2016.

Indexes were found to be useful for capturing complexity and revealed diversity in state legislative approaches and related outcomes when applied to CPA such as the finding that differences in cannabis law severity may have an impact on harmful consumption. Nevertheless, the key finding that laws appeared to have little effect on drug policy outcomes reinforces that while laws may be necessary, they may not be sufficient to achieve policy goals. Future drug policy indexes may thus benefit from incorporating measures of implementation.