研析國際新興管制物質性質及管理政策研究

Project: A - Government Institutionc - Ministry of Health and Welfare

Project Details

Description

New psychoactive substances (NPS) have become more prevalent as a substitute for controlled substances internationally in recent years. The use of NPS has resulted in a significantly growing problem of abuse and related adverse events. By the time of 2016, 106 countries and territories already reported the emergence of a cumulative total of 739 different NPS to UNODC. In response to this rising trend, several laws and policies had been released among multiple countries, for efficiently controlling the NPS prevalence and addressing the issue. As for Taiwan, the ROC government has currently adopted “the standard listed model” for the control of NPS. With the hope which the NPSs can be put under control and meet the international progress in a more rapid way, an effort is need to conduct an overall understanding into these emerging NPS reported from each government. On top of that, the increasing trend of marijuana use year by year is another major concern in the drug control policy internationally. However, a move is appearing among countries in North America and Europe to accelerate the legalization process of cannabis use for medical purpose, which also indicates the highly focus of it from both the governments and public perception. Although the legalization call seems to be inevitable, thorough investigation is warranted on the package policies, including regulations and fines of possession, selling, transportation and also cultivation by countries given their different cultural need. In order to catch up with the updating international trend of drug control and therefore enhance the effectiveness of decision making in both NPS and cannabis policies in Taiwan, the aim of the current project is to bring in the information about listing trends of NPS, and also evidence of cannabis legalizing policies as references for Taiwan’s government. The study uses text-analysis as an evidence-based methodology, conducting in two sections separately. The first is to search information about the listed NPS in countries. Such information includes basic introduction, pharmacology, toxicology, side effects, whether available for medicinal use, prevalence and suggestions for listing, with further analysis identifying their listing patterns in chemical structures, pharmacology and toxicology effects. Second, efforts will focus on regulations and fines related to cannabis legalization in medicinal and recreational use, also research evidence in medical use and its product information. Trends of cannabis use by countries will also be compared and contrasted between them. The scopes of range will be included advanced countries and also international organizations in numbers of 16 and 20 for each section, respectively. Final results will be presented as a summary report about both sections. Viable recommendations about policy and decision making for the management of NPS and cannabis will be proposed, to make contribution to safer public health in Taiwan.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/16/1812/31/18

Keywords

  • New psychoactive substances
  • cannabis legalization
  • medicinal marijuana
  • drug abuse
  • drug policy

Fingerprint

Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.