It is increasingly recognised that illegal drug policies are in need of reform - they bring considerable collateral damage through criminalization and violence due to vying for market dominance, they impair health, result in large prison populations and weaken governance around the world.

UNGASS 2016 provides a unique opportunity for opening the door to policy shifts, paving the way for reform of the global drug control regime to permit responsible legal regulation, as is happening with cannabis. There is no one simple pathway for effective reform; it will require experimentation and trial and error and will also require a standard benchmark to address health outcomes across all drugs, legal and illegal. In the field of toxicology, risk assessment for human consumption of a wide range of products is based on margins of exposure (MOE) analysis. We propose MOE as the standard tool to drive reform and monitor drug policy worldwide.

Feb 2016

This AR Policy Paper, focusing on the family members affected by addiction, is divided into three parts: The first summarises the stressors experienced by adult family members of close relatives with alcohol, drug or gambling problems, the coping dilemmas they face, their needs for information and support, and their heightened risks for ill-health. The second part looks again at these themes, but, specifically, for children and young people who are affected by living with parents or carers with such problems. In the third part of the paper, some of the difficulties and barriers to routinely providing help for affected family members, whether children or adults, are considered.

Final version of the 12-point ALICE RAP Policy Frame, which is put forward to inform a redesign of the governance approaches to reduce the individual and societal harm done by addictive drugs and behaviours. The Policy Frame has originated out of the work of ALICE RAP, as well as the six books that have been produced by ALICE RAP as a series with Oxford University Press.

A draft was discussed at some length and revised following comments of the ALICE RAP Steering Group. This final version has been informed more widely by comments from a number of AR scientists in an open consultation with all members of the ALICE RAP project.