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A new, more structured way of assessing the various harms done to individuals, families, communities and wider society by a range of legal and illegal drugs was first articulated by Professor David Nutt and colleagues at the University of Bristol. The "rational scale" they developed in the light of their research has stimulated extensive policy debate and informed drug classification in the UK and overseas. The research underpinning the scale has been disseminated through numerous public lectures and discussions and has stimulated worldwide media coverage. As a consequence, public awareness of drug harms has increased and public engagement in important debates about drugs has intensified.
Since 2010, the Recreational Drugs European Network (Rednet), a collaborative, Europe-wide project originating at Hertfordshire, has monitored and documented markets, consumption patterns and risks of `new drugs'. In 2012 one of the university's researchers developed the integrated SMS and email (`Smail') rapid response service to deliver accurate, up-to-date drug intelligence to frontline workers, including doctors and police. [text removed for publication]
Smail researchers have also assisted addiction specialists to mitigate harm arising from newly emerging intravenous abuse of Tropicamide.
This research has had impact on two linked areas of illicit drug policy. Firstly, pioneering research on the effects of drug decriminalisation in Portugal has shifted the debate on this issue in the UK, US and elsewhere towards an acceptance that decriminalisation is a viable and not harmful approach. Secondly, research on alternatives to imprisonment for drug-dependent offenders has moved debate towards supporting the expansion of treatment for such offenders in the UK and US. These impacts are evidenced in the citation of the research by policy-makers and NGOs (including the British Sentencing Advisory Panel; The All Party Parliamentary Group on Drugs; the Home Affairs Select Committee; UK NGOs, Release and Transform; the US Drug Policy Alliance and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), demonstrating a significant influence on policy-making as well as public debate.
Research undertaken by Professor King and his research group on the political economy of public health has generated three types of impact: global media coverage; extensive debate among stakeholders and the general public; and influencing the political agenda.
Research into impaired cognitive performance related to drug misuse began at Edge Hill University (EHU) in 1998. It has predominantly concentrated upon impairments related to use of the illegal drug `ecstasy' (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine: MDMA), although some has focussed upon cannabis related impairments in order to identify which of these drugs was related to a specific performance decrement. The impacts presented arise from contributions to policy development through the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the consultation response team of the British Psychological Society (BPS), media debate drawing upon our research, and through informing the design of a drug use prevention campaign.
The `People in Public Health' (PIPH) study and related research on health trainers, health champions and volunteers has brought together evidence on rationales for lay engagement, effectiveness and models of support. Dissemination activities, supported by a Department of Health grant, have achieved reach into various policy arenas and national networks. At the same time there is evidence of research utilisation in public health practice. One of the impacts has been the establishment of `Active Citizens for Health', a national network of partner organisations to bring together evidence and learning that has been hosted by Leeds Metropolitan University.
The focus of the case is Social Network Analysis (SNA) which allows patterns of relations between actors (human and other entities) to be modelled and combined with actors' attributes. Edinburgh Napier University has applied these methods across a wide range of fields, achieving impacts both in the UK and internationally to make improvements in areas of health, commerce and policy. Methods have been applied to improve: the well-being of women and substance abusers in Bangladesh; the performance of supply chains; to demonstrate the effectiveness of prisoner management in reducing recidivism; and, to assess the effectiveness of health promotion initiatives.
Professor Bewley-Taylor's research has provided a challenge to conventional wisdom within high-level debates on international drug control. His research has pioneered concepts that explain the increasing tensions between the United Nations (UN) drug control conventions and national policies on controlled drugs that deviate from punitive-prohibition, and it has classified policy options as conforming, challenging or contradictory to the UN conventions. Through publications, presentations and face-to-face consultation, he has influenced the work of non government organisations on drug policy and stimulated debate among national, UN and European Union drug policy officials and national ambassadors considering changes in policy or withdrawal of existing policy. In helping to reframe drug policy discourse, his research has facilitated consideration of policy approaches that aim to reduce a range of drug-related harms.
This case study highlights a body of research around health Research Priority Setting (RPS) that assists policy makers in effectively targeting research that has the greatest potential health benefit. Empirical research on RPS led to organizational changes, and new policies within the Cochrane Collaboration along with new training resources and new RPS exercises. A research gap on inequalities in the risk of oral cancer in the English South Asian population led to an evidence synthesis exercise being carried out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the formulation of a new public health guideline.
Research at Lancaster has had significant, cumulative impacts on public sector thinking about, and approaches to, public involvement in health policy, practice and research locally, nationally and internationally. As a result the public in the UK and internationally is now significantly better engaged in influencing health policy and practice, in particular those from disadvantaged communities, leading to improved health and wellbeing, and enhanced employability. This research shaped the network of NHS Patient and Public Involvement Forums established in England 2003-2007, and reframed how social exclusion and vulnerability were addressed in the report of the Global Commission on The Social Determinants of Health (Marmot report) and the WHO EURO Health 2020 Strategy.