Research Library

Despite the wealth of evidence attesting to the efficacy of medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction, the majority of Americans who need it can't get it — including in Harris County, Texas’ largest county. Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/31D9qGV

Drug policy fellow Katharine A. Neill explains why establishing heroin-assisted treatment programs, which provide severely addicted individuals with controlled access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin, could make a significant dent in the number of U.S. deaths from opioid use in this post for the Baker Institute Blog.

To what lengths should we go to preserve human life? Doctors from Italy and China plan to provide a Russian volunteer with a new body. But is this ethical? Should they proceed? Nonresident scholar Ana S. Iltis explores these issues in a post on the Baker Institute Blog.

The Texas House of Representatives is considering House Bill 3256, which would legalize syringe exchange programs (SEPs) as a means of reducing the transmission of infectious and communicable diseases among people who inject drugs. On April 25, William Martin, director of the Drug Policy Program, appeared before the Texas House Committee on Public Health to testify in support of HB 3256. Martin also authored an op-ed in TribTalk supporting the establishment of SEPs.

This blog post examines four factors of globalization that make Texas a “ground zero” for new infectious tropical diseases and outlines steps the state must take to better mitigate global health threats.

Peter J. Hotez, fellow in disease and poverty, discusses his personal experience as the father of a child with autism and examines how vaccine refusal could negatively affect child mortality rates.

Baker Institute experts blog on opportunities for the U.S. and Mexico to jointly address the neglected tropical diseases found among the poorest people living in both countries.

Asthma in children costs an estimated $27 billion annually for doctor visits, emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Not surprisingly, kids with asthma miss more days of school and do worse academically. The first step to the management and treatment of asthma is access to a primary care provider who can prescribe the necessary medications and develop an asthma action plan. However, if we want to have a significant impact on the negative consequences of this disease on our children, a multi-faceted approach that includes policy is an absolute must.