Community consultations and the development of a public health approach to drug policy

The New York Academy of Medicine and the Drug Policy Alliance are working to shift focus in New York drug policies from a bifurcated, criminal justice and treatment approach to a comprehensive and coordinated public health approach. This re-focuses the metrics of successful drug policy from arrests and drug seizures to improvements in individual, family and community health and safety. To inform these efforts and build community engagement, NYAM and DPA conducted a series of 16 community consultations over the course of 7 months with over 300 community members and well over 100 organizations throughout New York State to learn from those directly impacted by drug use and current drug policies. The community consultations were held as open discussions for community members to engage and share with the facilitators as well as each other: their perceptions regarding drug use and the current response to it, community needs to address drug use, innovative ideas about strategies to prevent and reduce drug use and related harm, and prioritization of issues and strategies. The findings are primarily organized into one of four pillars – prevention, treatment, harm reduction and public safety. This Four Pillars Model has been proven successful in establishing a comprehensive, public health approach to drug policy in Canada and Europe. In addition to the four pillars, stigma and structural racism emerged as cross-cutting themes. Across consultations, participants called for a paradigm shift in how we approach drug policy.