Developing the U.S. Drug Consequences Indices, 2000-2009

This report presents the results of a project to develop a family of U.S. Drug Consequences Indices (DCIs). The DCIs are a complementary set of indices that measure the harmful consequences of illegal drugs in a standardized way. The National DCIs measure trends in illicit drug-related consequences for the U.S. as a whole, and the State DCIs measure these consequences across both states and years. These various metrics quantify with a single number what is otherwise not directly measurable, that is, the diverse and complex construct of drug-related consequences. Each index was constructed from an array of theoretically-relevant social indicators measuring the health, social and economic, and crime and disorder consequences of illegal drug use and distribution during the ten-year period 2000 to 2009. Composite drug harm indices have been developed in recent years for official use in other countries, but the family of DCIs presented in this report are the first indices developed in a U.S. context that summarize over a multi-year period the multidimensional phenomenon of drug-related consequences.

SEVIGNY Eric;  SAISANA Michaela; 

2014-01-07

Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, the White House

JRC74754

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/developing_the_us_drug_consequences_indices_2000-2009_august_2013.pdf,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC74754,