The War on Drugs:  The US anti-drug policy that began in 1909 and escalated into a full blown war in the 1980s and 1990s transformed substances previously marketed as healing products by the world's oldest pharmaceutical companies into the greatest threat to national security since communism.  US drug policy was officially labeled a war during the Nixon administration, however, it was the $7.8 billion federal anti-drug plan and the National Drug Control Strategy Implementation Act passed during George Bush's administration that made the war the center of major domestic and foreign policy decisions.  The war outlined by the Bush administration called for a 3-tierd attack on drugs that consisted of crop eradication programs to eliminate drugs at their source, interdiction efforts to prevent drugs from entering into the country, and harsh penalties domestically for users and small scale pushers.  The war on drugs has intensified with both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations with increased federal spending on interdiction, law enforcement, and crop eradication efforts and legislation that increases penalties for users and small scale pushers.  This research topic is devoted to understanding the multidimensional aspects of the drug war.  Current subtopics are crop eradication programs and Plan Columbia, CIA involvement in narco-trafficking, domestic legislation that targets users and pushers and their impact, and drug reform initiatives.

The Biopharmaceutical Industry:  The pharmaceutical industry shares its origin with the major industries responsible for shaping western society.  The German cartel that came to be known as IG Farben and its international partnerships and patent licensing agreements formed the foundation from which the modern pharmaceutical industry and many of its products emerged.  The modern pharmaceutical industry is largely composed of multi-national corporations, however, it is the single most influential industry in shaping policy decisions in Washington.  It is responsible for 60% of lobbyists on Capitol Hill who work to ensure that the interests of pharmaceutical companies are protected in every major piece of legislation.  The industry has gone through periodic phases of extreme concentration of market power to de-concentration of power and is currently involved in another period of transformation.  Liability suits, loss of patents, and dwindling results from traditional research and development methods are causing a significant profit loss for the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry has responded by engaging in acquisitions and mergers that further concentrate the industry while simultaneously de-concentrating the industry by outsourcing to smaller firms for clinical trials and research and development.  The reliance of the pharmaceutical industry on biotechnology to be the source of new products to maintain industry profitability is so great that industry insiders now refer to the pharmaceutical industry as the biopharmaceutical industry.  This research topic is devoted to understanding the structure and operation of the biopharmaceutical industry and its influence and impact on national and international policy decisions.  Current subtopics are the history of the pharmaceutical industry, the market structure with an emphasis on corporate mergers and the contributions of biotechnology, and lobbying efforts of the pharmaceutical industry and its impact on legislation.

The War on Terror:  The War on Terror is a term of rhetoric that has been used since the 1800s to describe efforts to combat small scale attacks on institutions of states.  In the 1940s the western press used the term for the effort to combat Jewish attacks against the British Mandate of Palestine.  The War on Terror was a term widely used by the Reagan Administration and an attempt was made during the Tokyo Summit of 1986 to reach an international accord on it.  The September 11 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon launched the US into a large scale military assault on the war on terror, which became the focus of every major foreign and domestic policy decision of the George W. Bush Administration.  The current war on terror is described as the ongoing campaign to destroy individuals and groups classified as terrorists and terrorist supporting organizations and states.  The initial military campaign targeted Afghanistan and was followed by the invasion of Iraq.  While the military is still active in both areas the administration has named Libya, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, North Korea, and Iran as future potential targets.  The concept of war that guided military organization and activity through the end of the cold war has been redefined by the war on terror.  The almost exclusive use of small scale Special Forces to fight the war on terror has caused a massive restructuring of the military and security apparatus to the expense of taxpayers.  In addition, the domestic legislation passed in the wake of the war on terror has redefined the civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution.  This research topic is devoted to understanding the war on terror and its implications for domestic and foreign policy.  Subtopics include the 9/11 attacks, the states and organizations targeted in the war on terror with an emphasis on the history of western military and economic involvement, the reorganization of the armed forces, and domestic legislation influenced by the war on terror. 

Mandatory Mental Health Screening: 

On July 26 2004, the New Freedom Commission, a 15 member group created by an executive order in 2002, released “Achieving the Promise”, an action plan for transforming mental health care services in America. Goal #4 of the plan, “early mental health screening, assessment, and referral to services are common practice”, recommends mental health screening and early intervention programs, which will identify individuals with symptoms of mental illness and connect them to treatment, become readily accessible in health care facilities, school systems, and criminal justice, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems.  Columbia University’s TeenScreen program, which in pilot tests identified 1/3 of participants as mentally ill, was named as a model to achieve goal #4’s mission to improve and expand school mental health programs.  The program IMPACT--Improving Mood:  Providing Access to Collaborative Treatment for Late Life Depression, was identified as a model program for screening and treating older adults in primary health care settings.  Goal #5 of the plan, “excellent mental health care is delivered and research is accelerated”, named the Texas Medical Algorithm Project (TMAP), a program that would mandate the prescription of brand name pharmaceuticals as a 1st line of treatment for mental disorders, as a model program for providing high quality mental health services.  Allen Jones, an investigator for Pennsylvania’s Office of Inspector General, discovered evidence of payment from pharmaceutical companies to government officials that influenced the implementation of the TMAP program and has filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and related companies that initiated the program.  The screening programs combined with TMAP has been identified as a marketing strategy to expand the pharmaceutical industry’s consumer base and the New Freedom Commission has been under continual criticism for their recommendation.  The Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) has responded by not including TeenScreen or TMAP in the Federal Mental Health Action Agenda, which is influenced by the New Freedom Commission.  However, states are still free to implement the programs with federal grants, legislative efforts to mandate mental health screenings are taking place in many states, and the Garrett Lee Smith Act, the 1st youth suicide prevention bill signed into law Oct. 21 2004, gives preference for grants to states that use screening programs as an intervention and prevention strategy.  This research topic is devoted to compiling information on the initiative to implement mental health screening programs.

Harm Reduction in Heroin Use:

Harm Reduction in Heroin Use is a series of fact sheets created to provide users with information on how to minimize the harmful effects of heroin while using.  The fact sheets cover withdrawal, nutrition, overdose, drug interactions, and abcess and vein care.  A resource list local to Northampton, MA is also provided.