Charles Manski

Policymakers lack enough information to create useful, realistic policies on illegal drug use, according to a report from the National Research Council (NRC) released in March. As a result, the nation’s ability to evaluate whether its drug policies work is no better now than it was 20 years ago, when drug-control efforts began to accelerate, according to the report.

Charles Manski (IPR-Economics) chaired the NRC Committee on Data and Research for Policy on Illegal Drugs that wrote the report after a 2 1/2-year study. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy commissioned the work.

One major finding is the need to evaluate drug-enforcement efforts. Although the federal government spends about $12 billion annually on drug enforcement programs, reliable data on drug consumption and actual prices for illegal drugs are not available. Such data are critical because a major goal of enforcement is to reduce drug supply and drive up costs, which then cuts consumption.

“It is unconscionable for this country to continue to carry out a public policy of this magnitude and cost without any way of knowing whether, and to what extent, it is having the desired result,” Manski said. “Our committee strongly recommends that a substantial, new, and robust research effort be undertaken to examine the various aspects of drug control, so that decision-making on these issues can be better supported by more factual and realistic evidence.”

New research should focus on obtaining accurate data on drug prices and the frequency and quantity of consumption, and improving evaluation of prevention, interdiction, enforcement, and treatment, according to the report.

Drug-enforcement spending increased tenfold between 1981 and 1999, making it the major focus of drug-control policies. By 1998, drug arrests had tripled in just eight years, according to Department of Justice statistics. That year, 289,000 drug offenders were newly placed in state prisons, 12 times the number in 1980.

What difference has increased spending and arrests made? Current research does not collect enough information on how drug markets operate, how users begin to consume drugs, how they decide to step up their use, and what factors influence their decision to quit, the committee said.

Accurate information on how much drugs cost would show how drug users respond to price changes. Research has shown that enforcement policy has increased drug prices, but no one knows the magnitude of the increase, which policy components brought about this result, or which drug users have been most affected.

The White House commissioned the committee to do a broad assessment of data and research as a basis for developing a sound national drug policy on illegal drugs. The committee released its Phase I report in April 1999, which detailed flaws uncovered in two prominent cocaine control studies that had influenced previous U.S. drug policies.

(The report may be viewed or ordered online at books.nap.edu/catalog/10021.html.)