Decades of bad policy have heightened the risks of drug use and created barriers to treatment. And while some states are now trying to reduce the harms caused by the drug war, Texas is doubling down on ineffective policies.
The rapid adoption of telemedicine is one of the few positive developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris. She explains why the DEA’s recent proposal to change the rules for prescribing drugs via telemedicine would harm patients and increase demand for and exposure to unregulated and more dangerous drugs.
Some states still face challenges with racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution, and Texas is one of them. How might we avoid these inequities in the future? The authors explain in the Baker Institute Blog.
Elena M. Marks, Varsha Varghese, Jennifer MeierMay 5, 2021
The death of George Floyd has accelerated calls for police reform. Although decriminalizing drugs and the people who use them will not end police violence, it is part of the structural change needed to fix the problem, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris.
The oil glut and the unprecedented drop in demand, along with plummeting oil prices due to the coronavirus pandemic, is revealing the strengths and weaknesses of oil firms globally. The authors consider four NOCs — Ecopetrol, Petrobras, Petronas and Pemex — in the context of the current crisis.
The collective trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic may provide a clearer understanding of why people use drugs — to help us see it not as a moral failing or a brain malfunction, but as a fundamentally human response to negative life events. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.
Fellow Katharine Neill Harris considers the validity of risk assessment tools, which estimate the likelihood that an individual who has been charged with or convicted of a crime will commit a future offense. Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2Cwl6jc
Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are becoming a permanent fixture of modern policing, and their effects are likely to be much more nuanced than originally predicted.
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