Research Library

There is broad consensus in the medical and scientific community that substance abuse should be treated as a medical and public health problem, not a crime. The authors recommend a sensible pivot from failed policies of drug prohibition toward a realistic approach to drug use.

Instability in the Middle East will continue without pluralistic political systems that include opposition voices, women and ethnic minorities in the decision-making process. The continual marginalization of these groups will lead to heightened levels of popular discontent and even violence.

The incoming president will have to rebuild ties of trust with ruling elites in the Persian Gulf states shaken by U.S. policy toward the Arab uprisings in 2011, the civil war in Syria, and the nuclear negotiations with Iran, writes fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

A multi-pronged policy that engages both secular and nonviolent Islamist parties may produce a foreign policy agenda that more successfully advances short- and long-term U.S. objectives in the Middle East, writes research scholar A.Kadir Yildirim.

In this brief, the authors explain why Israeli-Palestinian negotiations failed in 2013, and outline the elements necessary to relaunch the talks and reach a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the two-state solution.

Despite many differences, the United States and Saudi Arabia maintain important mutual interests. Fellow Jim Krane explains why rebuilding ties with Saudi Arabia could incentivize the kingdom to place more importance on U.S. goals.

U.S. policy should facilitate and support investment in Latin America’s oil and gas sectors, which would contribute to energy security and support economic integration with Mexico and Latin America, writes fellow Francisco J. Monaldi.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) affects over 80 million Americans, causing more than 40,000 cases of HPV-associated cancers in the U.S. In 2006, the FDA licensed the first HPV vaccine, which could help save thousands of lives; no cure for HPV currently exists. However, the political controversy raised by the vaccine has limited its acceptance and use. Such resistance potentially jeopardizes an opportunity to reduce cancer rates in Texas and the broader United States.

Marijuana decriminalization and legalization have gone past being a trend and are settling in as federal policy, writes nonresident fellow Gary Hale, a 31-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration. This policy brief includes recommendations for how the DEA can adjust its policies to adopt a new paradigm on marijuana policy.