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Information communicated and produced by the government is essentially fundamental as the government is set and deemed as a reliable and a credible source of information. This study assessed the readability, comprehensibility, and document design of two brochures on prohibited drugs awareness, which were produced and distributed by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), a government agency that is responsible in instituting policies about the use of illegal drugs in the Philippines. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, a total number of 120 participants comprised of students, those employed, the unemployed, and drug patients from a rehabilitation center answered two 10-item multiple choice questionnaires and Likert scales to assess and evaluate the comprehensibility and document design of the two brochures. Using the Coh-Metrix tool to analyze the readability of the two brochures, results showed that the two existing brochures were not that readable with the huge discrepancy of the readability levels of the docments against the 9-10 normative values of the reading tool utilized. The results of the participants' scores which were categorized as instructional or assisted level exhibited that the two brochures were not that comprehensible. Lastly, it was found that the designs of the documents were poor as some violations like small font size, pixelated pictures, and non-observance of color schemes were present. This paper argues that government agencies should produce information brochures that are patterned to the standards of Plain Language Movement in order to help the lay people grasp important information such as drug awareness.

Shortcomings seen in US efforts to stop cocaine exports from Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.

Background: Policy decisions are informed by a number of factors: politics, ideology and values, perceived public opinion, and pragmatic constraints such as funding. Research evidence is also used to inform decision-making but must compete with these other inputs. Understanding how policy makers access research evidence may assist in encouraging greater use of this evidence. This study examined the sources of research evidence that Australian government drug policy makers accessed when faced with their most recent decision-making opportunity. Method: Drug policy makers across health and police government portfolios were interviewed (n = 31) and asked to report on the sources of research evidence used in their most recent decision-making. Results: Nine sources were reported, the most frequent of which were seeking advice from an expert and consulting technical reports. Accessing the internet, using statistical data and consulting policy makers in other jurisdictions were used in about half the cases. The least frequently used sources were academic literature, relying on internal expertise, policy documents and employing a consultant. Conclusion: There is a tension between the type of information source most suited to policy makers - simple, single-message, summative and accessible - and the types of information produced and valued by researchers-largely academic publications that are nuanced and complex. Researchers need to consider the sources that policy makers use if they wish their research to be utilised as one part of policy making.

The mantra of "evidence-based policy" is continuing to gain ground, with calls for public policy to be informed by scientific evidence. However, in many areas of public policy the role of evidence and science is highly contested. This is amply demonstrated in the area of illegal drugs policy. Illegal drugs policy, concerned with governments' approaches to controlling the sale and use of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and cannabis, is a highly contested area, and hence a fruitful case example of the complexity of policy. The features of illicit drug policy explored in this paper are: government actors, which span multiple departments; political ambivalence and multiple stakeholders outside government; community attitudes and a high media profile. These features need to be taken into account in understanding the relationship between policy and research evidence. In this context, the role of research evidence can be fraught. Examination of a number of current "hot topics" in drug policy demonstrates the variety of ways in which evidence is used in drug policy processes. Adapted from the source document.

UNLIKE IN OTHER COUNTRIES WHERE MEDICINAL DRUG POLICIES HAVE DEVELOPED GRADUALLY OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, BANGLADESH WORKED OUT THEIR DRUG POLICY, BASED ON 16 CRITERIA, IN JUST 15 DAYS. THIS POLICY, WHICH HAS BEEN IN EFFECT FOR THIRTEEN YEARS HAS BEEN EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL: DRUG PRICES HAVE GONE DOWN CONSIDERABLY, THE DOMESTIC INDUSTRY HAS GROWN RAPIDLY, AND PEOPLE'S AWARENESS ABOUT MEDICINAL DRUGS HAS BEEN STEADILY GROWING. THIS ARTICLE TELLS THE BANGLADESH STORY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ONE OF THE CENTRAL FIGURES IN THIS DRAMATIC DRUG POLICY STORY, DR. ZAFRULLAH CHOWDHURY. DR. CHOWDHURY HAS PLAYED AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN BANGLADESH'S WORK IN EDUCATION, NUTRITION, AGRICULTURE, EMPLOYMENT, AND WOMEN'S EMANCIPATION. HE HAS ALSO BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN ESTABLISHING MANUFACTURERS WHO SELL DRUGS OF HIGH QUALITY AT A LOW COST. THE ARTICLE CONCLUDES WITH A DISCUSSION OF BANGLADESH'S DRUG POLICY GOALS FOR THE FUTURE.

In April 1998, the Government published the White Paper 'Tackling Drugs To Build A Better Britain', which announced a new ten year strategy for tackling drug misuse. Julian Buchanan and Lee Young argue that, while it has some commendable features, the Paper perpetuates an outdated approach to drugs policy by failing to recognise the rapidly changing patterns of drug use in the United Kingdom.

Over the last two decades, Swiss drug policy has moved away from a prohibitionist to a "harm reduction" model. This article uses the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) to understand this process of policy change, drawing on social movement theory to overcome shortcomings of the ACF regarding collective action. We argue that recent history in the field of drug policy in Switzerland can plausibly be presented as a competition between coalitions advocating belief systems regarding problems & policy. The AIDS epidemic is considered a crucial noncognitive event helping the harm reduction coalition to overthrow the hegemonic abstinence coalition. Public order issues linked to harm reduction facilities led neighborhood quality of life advocates to impede the location of such facilities, which, in turn, stimulated policy-oriented learning with harm reduction advocates. The analysis supports the ACF's hypotheses on policy change, but social movement theory provides insights into coalition formation, persistence, & strategies. 1 Table, 16 References. Adapted from the source document.

Cyclosporine A (CsA) is an immunosuppressive drug commonly used in organ transplant patients to prevent allograft rejections. Ketamine is a pediatric anesthetic that noncompetitively inhibits the calcium-permeable N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptors. Adverse drug-drug interaction effects between ketamine and CsA have been reported in mammals and humans. However, the mechanism of such drug-drug interaction is unclear. We have previously reported adverse effects of combination drugs, such as verapamil/ketamine and shown the mechanism through intervention by other drugs in zebrafish embryos. Here, we show that ketamine and CsA in combination produce developmental toxicity even leading to lethality in zebrafish larvae when exposure began at 24 h post-fertilization (hpf), whereas CsA did not cause any toxicity on its own. We also demonstrate that acetyl L-carnitine (ALCAR) completely reversed the adverse effects. Both ketamine and CsA are CYP3A4 substrates. Although ketamine and CsA independently altered the expression of the hepatic marker CYP3A65, a zebrafish ortholog of human CYP3A4, both drugs together induced further increase in CYP3A65 expression. In the presence of ALCAR, however, CYP3A65 expression was normalized. ALCAR has been shown to prevent ketamine toxicity in mammal and zebrafish. In conclusion, CsA exacerbated ketamine toxicity and ALCAR reversed the effects. These results, providing evidence for the first time on the reversal of the adverse effects of CsA/ketamine interaction by ALCAR, would prove useful in addressing potential occurrences of such toxicities in humans. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Beschreibt den seit 100 Jahre währenden, brutalen Drogenkrieg in Mexiko und die Rolle der USA in dieser leidvollen Geschichte und endet mit einem Plädoyer für die Entkriminalisierung der Drogen. - Rezension : "Basta ya! Einhundert Jahre sind genug!" - so endet das Buch, das diese 100 Jahre Drogenkrieg in Mexiko mit einer grossen Präzision beschreibt. Die Autoren - eine mexikanische Schriftstellerin, von der einige Romane in den 1990ern hier besprochen wurden, und ein Pulitzer-Preisträger (1998) - stützen sich auf eine grosse Menge amerikanischer und mexikanischer Veröffentlichungen (umfangreiche Bibliografie), schaffen es auch, das Material zu einer wirklich packenden Lektüre aufzubereiten, die durch die Brutalität der in den letzten Jahren handelnden Personen und Banden oft nur schwer erträglich ist, die Rolle der mexikanischen und der US-amerikanischen Politik aber vorzüglich beleuchtet. Die Schlussfolgerung ist dann fast zwangsläufig, diversen Kommissionen zu folgen und Drogen zu entkriminalisieren. Breiter einzusetzen - vielleicht auch neben dem breit empfohlenen Buch des Italieners R. Saviano. (2)

This research aimed to explain the impact of the United States War on Drugs policy that led the social movements of indigenous peoples in Bolivia through the appearance of Evo Morales and formation of El Movimiento al Socialismo or Movement towards Socialism (MAS) which become an influential political party in Bolivia and eventually led Evo Morales to become the first indigenous President of Bolivia in 2006 and point the concern of indigenous peoples through 2009 Constitution and ratification of the 1961 Convention. Data was obtained through library methods such as, scientific journals, related websites, books, ande-books. Collected datadescribed through qualitative research method with descriptive research type. Research analysis used the concepts of rights of indigenous peoples and self-determination. Both of these concepts explain how United States intervention through War on Drugs that becomingthe trigger of Bolivian indigenous people's self-determination effort. Keywords:War on Drugs, Coca Leaves, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Self-Determination