tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post7775041765936761498..comments2023-09-20T11:15:28.673+01:00Comments on Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog: Home Office forced to evaluate its drugs strategy...but not yetjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15263261726046054614noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-76541929206534177352010-03-17T08:07:39.835+00:002010-03-17T08:07:39.835+00:00Well, sounds good but I would suggest caution.
A...Well, sounds good but I would suggest caution. <br /><br />Any kind of study is only as good as the data it uses and the big (or at any rate one of the big) problems with prohibition is it makes it difficult if not actually impossible to measure the activity you're trying to evaluate. Simply, you can't directly measure an illegal activity, you can only measure the consequences of it.<br /><br />If you can't measure something, you can't do science on it. That is a fundamental truth about science, a definition in fact, it's not open to debate. It doesn't matter how complex the statistical examination is, if the original data is rubbish the old maxim holds true: Garbage in = garbage out.<br /><br />If you want to do a proper study to see how the drugs policy works, you need to be able to sample the user base using valid sampling methods as we would do with any normal consumer survey.<br /><br />In other words I do not think it is possible to measure the effectiveness of the current drugs policy, even if they wanted to which I don't think they do. Therefore any statistics they might produce are at best suspect.<br /><br />Any such study should explain the sampling methods used to collect data and be open about the limitations of the methods used. Home office drugs studies usually fall well short of the required standard, will this one be any better? I doubt it.Derek WIlliamshttp://www.ukcia.org/wordpressnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-86876787154203596762010-03-17T03:08:49.198+00:002010-03-17T03:08:49.198+00:00And don't forget this:
http://ukcia.org/wordp...And don't forget this:<br /><br />http://ukcia.org/wordpress/?p=262Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-41890133917569355942010-03-17T01:56:06.631+00:002010-03-17T01:56:06.631+00:00Bravo!!! This is another brick falling from the wa...Bravo!!! This is another brick falling from the wall, another step on the right direction. <br /><br />It's not a fast game, but Transform plays the best, and so they'll win, and everybody else thanks to them. Thank you very much for your great work. We'll definitely keep watching this space.Tim Scullynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-46011006056805485612010-03-17T00:15:05.675+00:002010-03-17T00:15:05.675+00:00Sounds promising but I'm not even getting my h...Sounds promising but I'm not even getting my hopes up with the four months estimate -- it seems that everything takes longer than predicted in the drugs policy world.<br /><br />I hope the NGOs got some more tables there in Vienna (y).Adam Cecilsnoreply@blogger.com