Events - CALL FOR PAPERS: Conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Second Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy

April 3-4, 2008
Lisbon, Portugal

The second annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, April 3-4, 2008. The event is being supported by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the Instituto da Droga e da Toxicodependência (IDT). Researchers interested in contributing papers that advance analysis of any aspect of drug policy are invited to submit abstracts to the conference organizers, as described below.

The conference should be of interest to a wide array of disciplines including economics, epidemiology, public health, sociology, anthropology and political science. Participants are invited from a variety of institutional backgrounds: universities, national and international agencies active in drug policy and independent research institutions. Practitioners who consider themselves consumers rather than producers of policy relevant research should also find the conference of interest; they will be particularly welcome as discussants of papers at each session.

While papers on all drug policy topics are welcome, four themes are of particular interest at this second conference:

1. Developing drug policy evaluation: where are we?

There has been an increasing interest at national and international levels in developing evaluation methods for drug policies. This trend is linked to the growing number of strategies and action plans, which define precise priorities and objectives, imply routine monitoring, foresee time-bound achievements and responsible parties for implementation. National and international policy evaluation efforts are however often inconclusive because it remains difficult to establish a causal link between specific policy actions and the evolution of the situation they tackle. Furthermore, research in political science shows that the relationship between research and policy is a complex one and not reducible to a simple cause and effect model.
Presentations on a) the methods and results of the evaluation of international, national and local drug strategies and b) the methods to develop evidence-based strategies are encouraged to allow the participants to understand the current state of the play in the drug policy evaluation field.
Presentations focusing on the link between drug policy evaluation and drug policy process should complement the above in improving the understanding of the relationship between knowledge building and decision making in the drug field. Presentations on the overall process of drug policy change are most welcomed as well.


2. Defining drug policy models/types.

The characterization of drug policy models or types is not well developed in drug related research and studies. Many scientific papers and debates rely on the categories of "drug control policies" and "harm reduction policies", which are often poorly defined models. Furthermore, most national drug policies in the EU, but also in other parts of the world, are a combination of criminal sanctions, harm reduction and other elements, and they differ mainly in the way they weight and combine those different ingredients. A conceptual improvement in the categorization of drug policies would not only be useful to better describe and differentiate these policies but would also enable improvement of comparative analysis of drug policies.

3. The rise of security and public nuisance concerns

In the last three decades, a noticeable shift occurred in drug policies, in particular in Europe, Australia and Canada, towards a more balanced approach giving more emphasis to demand and harm reduction interventions. This has lead some scholars to characterise this long term process as a “healthification” of drug policies. This trend appears today to be slowly counterbalanced by a tendency to emphasise, design and implement interventions and instruments against public nuisance and public disorder. As argued by the EMCDDA 2005 Annual Report, this trend goes hand in hand with “a marked growth in the spheres of tackling drug driving, and a growing emphasis on the sphere of drugs at the workplace (considering the interest in drug testing at the work place and perhaps in school)”, as well as “a more or less clear trend in Europe to de-emphasise criminal punishment of the individual drug user – society acknowledging that the drug use per se (or possession for personal use) is not enough as to warrant serious sanctions, in particular deprivation of liberty. At least in the 15 older Member States, it is almost as if sanctions had been reduced (in particular imprisonment), for the individual user in a confined private setting, but increased for the behaviors/situations that are public and/or that may affect community, or society as a whole”. All those evolutions are little documented and explored by research. Papers helping to better understand the determinants and dynamics of this so-called trend and whether it corresponds to an objective increase in public nuisance behaviors or not, would be most welcome.

4. Integrated approach to both licit and illicit drugs: from theory to practice

Many countries, although to varying degrees, have designed and started implementing policies addressing both licit and illicit substances in an integrated fashion. Based on medical research findings that tend to consider that any addiction, whatever the product is, has common etiologic mechanisms, and also on the fact that many users combine different kinds of products and/or switch from one to another, the concept of having an integrated approach is a seductive one. How does it translate in reality, when integrated programmes and projects at field level are implemented? Papers that would bring evidence regarding the development of this trend in drug policy and investigate the feasibility of such an approach as well as the problems occurring when implemented would also be of interest.


The organizing committee encourages proposals for panels (3-4 papers, plus 1-2 discussants) as well as abstracts for individual papers.

We emphasize again that the four themes are in no way intended to exclude other drug policy topics.

Abstracts and proposals should be sent to the Instituto da Droga e da Toxicodependência (IDT) by email (at fatima.trigueiros@idt.min-saude.pt) by October 15, 2007. Abstracts for individual papers should be 200-300 words. Decisions will be provided by November 30, 2007.

This conference requires that all presenters submit a written paper prior to the conference. The written papers are due on March 15, 2008; they will be posted to a conference section at www.issdp.org a web site accessible only to registered participants. Conference registration will open October 1, 2007 and close on March 19, 2008. The fee for participation (covering all sessions and two lunches) will be 100 Euros. Conference registrants will also be invited to join the ISSDP; members of ISSDP will pay only 75 Euros for conference registration.

It is anticipated that the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction will provide accommodation support for speakers during the conference. Practical arrangements will be handled by Fatima Trigueiros, who can be contacted at IDT, Praça de Alvalade, nº 7 - 5º. ao 13º, 1700-036 Lisbon – Portugal.

Inquiries should be directed to the organizing committee:
Alex Stevens, European Institute of Social Services, University of Kent, United Kingdom, (a.w.stevens@kent.ac.uk) (facilitator)
Alison Ritter, National Drug and Alcohol Research Center, Australia (alison.ritter@unsw.edu.au)
Christine Godfrey, Centre for Health Economics, University of York, United Kingdom (cg2@york.ac.uk)
Frank Zobel, Interventions, Law and Policy Unit, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Portugal (Frank.Zobel@emcdda.europa.eu)
Henri Bergeron (Chair), Centre de Sociologie des Organisations – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sciences Po Paris (h.bergeron@cso.cnrs.fr)
Maria Moreira and Fatima Trigueiros, Instituto da Droga e da Toxicodependência, Portugal (maria.moreira@idt.min-saude.pt and fatima.trigueiros@idt.min-saude.pt)

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DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS has been changed and is now: 1st November 2007