Research Library

Using charts, figures and graphs of this survey data originally created by former career intelligence analyst Brian C. Bennett and updated by the Drug Policy Program, this issue brief offers an overview of drug use trends in America over the last four decades. The brief is part of a larger online project chronicling the pattern of the use and abuse of individual drugs over (in most cases) more than 40 years.

The percentage of Hispanics in Texas without health insurance has dropped by 30 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect, but almost one-third of Hispanic Texans ages 18 to 64 remain uninsured.

A new generation is taking office in the Gulf as a cadre of ambitious, young ruling family members and technocrats have emerged in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In this journal article, fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen analyzes the challenges facing this generation in light of the recent collapse in world oil prices.

The percentage of Texans without health insurance has dropped by 30 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect, cutting the state’s uninsured rate below 1999 levels.

This study assesses the attitudes of women in Jordanian maternity clinics with regard to CB banking and transplantation.

This journal article examines the risks patients face in seeking experimental stem cell-based interventions from clinics outside the United States. The authors advocate for new public policies that encourage patients to remain in clinical trials in the U.S.

While the Food and Drug Administration currently regulates storage and use of cord blood (CB) in the United States, other state and federal guidelines on CB education, awareness and ethical considerations remain variable, and no mandatory international guidelines exist. To help organize and coordinate efforts across the United States and other nations, policymakers should implement regulations for high quality standards for both private and public CB banks.

Regenerative medicine and stem cell research are exciting new fields. But as the fields progress toward clinical therapies, controversies emerge. Hype surrounding stem cell research has caused an increase in their use in interventions that are not clinically proven. Furthermore, the regulatory agencies have a lot of difficulty dealing with cell therapies, which are distinctly different from drugs and medical devices they more commonly approve. To move the field forward, advocates, regulators and scientists need to come together to find new options for stem cell research oversight that protects both the patients and the research field.

In addition to their therapeutic potential, cord blood banks raise ethical and regulatory questions, especially in emerging markets in the Arab world. In this article, the authors review cord blood banking in five countries in the region (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) that were selected for their different CB banking policies and initiatives.

In 1972, a National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, comprising establishment figures chosen mostly by President Richard Nixon himself, issued a report that declared that “neither the marihuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety” and recommended that Congress and state legislatures decriminalize the use and casual distribution of marijuana and seek means other than prohibition to discourage use. President Nixon ignored the report and Congress declined to consider its recommendations, but during the 40-plus years since its publication, at least 37 states have acted to refashion a crazy-quilt collection of prohibitions, nearly always in the direction favored by the commission. The specifics vary by state, but most reform legislation has followed one of three formulas: decriminalization of marijuana possession, legalization of marijuana for medical use, or legalization of marijuana for adult recreational use. In this issue brief, authors Katharine Neill and William Martin examine the facts and fears surrounding each of these options.