Foreign Policy
Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research
The current drug policy situation, domestically and internationally, is at best confused, and at worst, dangerously incoherent. Misleading data and unsound arguments are driving global policies, while proven strategies are abandoned. We believe that the situation requires an effective non-government effort to challenge misinformation, and strengthen a commitment to policies that work.
U.S. federal policy domestically appears in disarray, beset by budget challenges and wavering vision, at a time when drug use is rising, drug consequences are mounting, and core policy principles are threatened. An effective response to the current situation must include four elements: correcting misinformation, documenting harms, presenting specific countermeasures, and targeting these efforts effectively, getting that material to those who can take needed action.
The Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research seeks to establish a reliable public awareness of the dangers of drug abuse generally, and to help guide the emergence of new strategies validated by science, medicine, and actual practice.
The Center is served by a collection of policy makers, thinkers, and scientists each of whom has direct experience in driving research, setting strategies, and managing programs at the highest levels of federal policy. Moreover, their policy experience and expertise spans the horizon of drug control challenges, ranging from demand reduction to effective supply control, and includes dimensions of prevention, treatment, challenging criminal organizations, and crafting international policies to end drug production and lawlessness.
Through an array of policy studies and commentaries, press appearances, Congressional briefings, and expert panels, the Center will not only shape the debate about substance abuse but will seek to change the policy direction of the nation’s response.
Not only will we present the most recent national and international data on drug policy, we will monitor, digest, and explain current research findings in medicine, brain science, econometrics, and the substance abuse community’s findings and responses. We believe that the actual scientific and epidemiological data concerning drug harms are robust and clear.
Importantly, the Center’s staff are able to couple their analysis and comprehension of the nature of the problem facing us with effective measures that can be acted upon by public officials, educators, and citizens.
Policy Center News
David Murray is quoted in MedScape on a new medical study alleging that abuse-deterrent OxyContin is tied to a spike in Hepatitis C infections
John Walters is quoted in The New York Times on drug trafficking and the potential impact of a Southern border wall
John Walters discusses China’s pledge to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance with Sinclair Broadcasting.
John Walters quoted by WJLA on the global opioid epidemic
John Walters quoted by Circa on the new Mexican president and the U.S. drug crisis
John Walters quoted in USA Today on the Trump administration’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic
John P. Walters quoted in WJLA on President Trump’s proposal for stricter drug rules
John P. Walters quoted in The LA Times on enforcement and interdiction of drug trafficking
John Walters quoted in the Washington Post about America’s fentanyl crisis
Letter to the editor by John P. Walters and David W. Murray published in The Wall Street Journal
David Murray quoted by The Washington Free Beacon on the opioid crisis
Brian Blake quoted by The Daily Caller on Jeff Sessions’ recent comments about the current drug epidemic
John P. Walters quoted by WJLA on the necessary strategy to deal with the opioid epidemic
John Walters quoted by WBUR on the topic of Supervised Injection Facilities (SIF)
David Murray quoted in Texas Tribune on the effect of legalization on the drug trade’s supply and demand
John P. Walters, Brian Blake, and David Murray’s Weekly Standard article on the increase production of Mexican heroin cited in USA Today
David Murray quoted in Washington Times on why fentanyl deaths should be included in the total number of heroin deaths
David Murray quoted in Vice News on the Canadian government allowing doctors to prescribe heroin
John Walters quoted by the Associated Press on overhauling the nation’s criminal justice system
David Murray’s article about misrepresentation in the 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado survey on Marijuana written up in The Weekly Standard
David Murray quoted in LA Times on reliability issues in a new study of marijuana usage among Colorado teens
John P. Walters, David W. Murray, and Brian Blake’s article on President Obama’s Drug Policies quoted in an editorial written in The Oklahoman
David Murray interviewed in Resource Magazine on the environmental impacts of the drug trade
John Walters quoted in Washington Times on the U.S. Supreme Court and the marijuana suit brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado
John Walters quoted in New York Times on keeping illicit substances from entering the country
David Murray quoted in Washington Examiner on medicinal marijuana
David Murray on Colorado’s “Safe” Marijuana Use Campaign in The Weekly Standard.
David Murray’s report on the Obama administration’s new clemency guidelines for federal prison inmates in The Weekly Standard.
David Murray quoted in Washington Post on the legalization of marijuana
Featured
Experts
John P. Walters
President and CEO
Brian Blake
Former Senior Fellow and Vice President, Development
David W. Murray
Senior Fellow
Events
In the Media
View all
John Walters discusses the threat of marijuana legalization and his testimony against the legalization bill in New Hampshire.
WMUR
John Walters discusses whether a border wall would be effective in stopping drug trafficking, January 13, 2019
John Walters on the Michael Knowles Show, August 17, 2018
All Commentary
View allAll Scholarship
All Transcripts
All Press
Policy Centers
- Coronavirus Insights and Analysis
- South Asia Program
- Center for Defense Concepts and Technology
- Center for the Economics of the Internet
- Current Trends in Islamist Ideology
- Center for Religious Freedom
- Food Policy Center
- Center for American Seapower
- Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research
- Kleptocracy Initiative
- Hudson Institute Political Studies
- Center for the Future of Liberal Society
- Task Force on Federal IT Procurement
- Quantum Alliance Initiative
- First Step Act Independent Review Committee
- Japan Chair
- Forum for Intellectual Property