Cross-country Comparison of Treatment Policies Facing the Drug Abuse in Five Selected Countries

Background: Drug abuse is one of the main problems of human's life; thus communities have been thinkingabout the solution of this problem. The present study aimed to compare the general features of drug abusetreatment policies, war on drugs (WOD), and harm reduction (HR), in the selected countr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammad Hossein Mehrolhasani, Vahid Yazdi-Feyzabadi, Ahmad Hajebi, Saeid Mirzaei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Kerman University of Medical Sciences 2019-07-01
Series:Addiction and Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ahj.kmu.ac.ir/article_89488_e6b366bc9dcaaf985e5ce274d32a6a27.pdf
Description
Summary:Background: Drug abuse is one of the main problems of human's life; thus communities have been thinkingabout the solution of this problem. The present study aimed to compare the general features of drug abusetreatment policies, war on drugs (WOD), and harm reduction (HR), in the selected countries.Methods: The present study was a comparative and desk research that sought to compare context,stewardship, financing, type of substance abuse treatment services, reasons of paradigm shift, and executivechallenges of treatment policies in the selected countries (China, Malaysia, Germany, Netherland, and Iran).The necessary data for comparison of the countries were collected through valid databases, review ofdocuments, and reports of international organizations.Findings: Context conditions were better in the HR countries. In most countries, the central governmentplayed a key role in the stewardship, financing, and service providing. In WOD countries, the presence ofjudicial structure was higher in the treatment of drug abuse. The policy-making approach was ideological inWOD countries, but evidence-based in HR countries.Conclusion: It seems that performance of HR countries is better than WOD countries.
ISSN:2008-4633
2008-8469