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521 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 8 (1992)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0521 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE Drug abuse is a topic of intense public concern and therefore subject to considerable debate by policymakers and politicians. During the 1980s and 1990s, public opinion polls have frequently reported that much of the public ranked drug abuse as the most important problem facing the nation. With or without justification, drug abuse is often cited as a major cause of crime, violence, and family disruption across the United States. The cocaine epi- demic of the 1980s and the burgeoning epidemic of acquired immune defi- ciency syndrome (AIDS) have pressured state and federal agencies to expand the resources devoted to addressing these problems. While much of the federal funding has been used to increase law enforce- ment efforts to reduce the flow of drugs into and within the United States, substantial increases in funding for research have also occurred. Researchers have learned much about the types of persons who are at high risk for drug abuse and have studied many possible interventions. In view of this expand- ing base of knowledge, it is most disconcerting to see how little of this infor- mation makes its way into the political debates on drug abuse. A common topic of discussion at meetings of drug abuse researchers is the disparity between what has been learned about drug abuse through research, and the low quality of the debate and solutions suggested at the highest levels of government. For example, federal legislators' discussions of revoking a person's driver's license as a punishment for illegal drug use demonstrated a lack of understanding of the types of extremely deviant youths most likely to be abusing illicit drugs. Researchers are taught to be cautious about drawing policy implications from their research. Scholarly articles traditionally end with a call for additional research to confirm or extend the research findings. Unfortunately, policymakers need answers immediately and cannot wait for the perfect research study to be completed. My experience as a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Justice convinced me of the need for research scientists to speak out and to present their advice to policymakers. If scientists are silent, the debate continues without them and decisions are made, often by persons who are far less knowledgeable. This volume was designed to offer leading drug abuse researchers an opportunity to present their most policy-relevant research findings. All au- thors contributing to this volume were encouraged to review the evidence in their area of expertise and to go out on a limb to interpret their findings to suggest directions for policymakers. The backgrounds of the authors reflect the diverse, multidisciplinary nature of drug abuse research. Contributing authors include physicians, psychologists, sociologists, economists, and crim- 8

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