Urban Health Research Initiative, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, Canada.
BMJ Open. 2013 Sep 30;3(9):e003077. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003077.
Illegal drug use continues to be a major threat to community health and safety. We used international drug surveillance databases to assess the relationship between multiple long-term estimates of illegal drug price and purity.
We systematically searched for longitudinal measures of illegal drug supply indicators to assess the long-term impact of enforcement-based supply reduction interventions.
Data from identified illegal drug surveillance systems were analysed using an a priori defined protocol in which we sought to present annual estimates beginning in 1990. Data were then subjected to trend analyses.
Data were obtained from government surveillance systems assessing price, purity and/or seizure quantities of illegal drugs; systems with at least 10 years of longitudinal data assessing price, purity/potency or seizures were included.
We identified seven regional/international metasurveillance systems with longitudinal measures of price or purity/potency that met eligibility criteria. In the USA, the average inflation-adjusted and purity-adjusted prices of heroin, cocaine and cannabis decreased by 81%, 80% and 86%, respectively, between 1990 and 2007, whereas average purity increased by 60%, 11% and 161%, respectively. Similar trends were observed in Europe, where during the same period the average inflation-adjusted price of opiates and cocaine decreased by 74% and 51%, respectively. In Australia, the average inflation-adjusted price of cocaine decreased 14%, while the inflation-adjusted price of heroin and cannabis both decreased 49% between 2000 and 2010. During this time, seizures of these drugs in major production regions and major domestic markets generally increased.
With few exceptions and despite increasing investments in enforcement-based supply reduction efforts aimed at disrupting global drug supply, illegal drug prices have generally decreased while drug purity has generally increased since 1990. These findings suggest that expanding efforts at controlling the global illegal drug market through law enforcement are failing.
非法药物的使用仍然是对社区健康和安全的主要威胁。我们使用国际毒品监测数据库来评估多种非法药物价格和纯度的长期估计值之间的关系。
我们系统地搜索了纵向的非法药物供应指标，以评估以执法为基础的供应减少干预措施的长期影响。
使用事先确定的方案分析了来自已确定的非法药物监测系统的数据，我们试图在该方案中从 1990 年开始呈现年度估计值。然后对数据进行趋势分析。
从评估非法药物价格、纯度和/或缉获量的政府监测系统中获取数据；纳入了至少有 10 年评估价格、纯度/效价或缉获量的纵向数据的系统。
我们确定了七个具有价格或纯度/效价纵向测量值的区域/国际元监测系统，这些系统符合资格标准。在美国，1990 年至 2007 年间，海洛因、可卡因和大麻的平均通胀调整后价格和纯度调整后价格分别下降了 81%、80%和 86%，而平均纯度分别增加了 60%、11%和 161%。在欧洲也观察到了类似的趋势，在此期间，阿片类药物和可卡因的平均通胀调整后价格分别下降了 74%和 51%。在澳大利亚，可卡因的通胀调整后价格下降了 14%，而海洛因和大麻的通胀调整后价格在 2000 年至 2010 年间分别下降了 49%。在此期间，这些药物在主要生产地区和主要国内市场的缉获量普遍增加。
除了极少数例外情况，尽管投入了更多的执法力度来减少毒品供应，以破坏全球毒品供应，但自 1990 年以来，非法药物的价格普遍下降，而药物的纯度普遍上升。这些发现表明，通过执法来控制全球非法毒品市场的努力正在失败。
