The New Zealand drug harms ranking study: A multi-criteria decision analysis

Aims: The harms arising from psychoactive drug use are complex, and harm reduction strategies should be informed by a detailed understanding of the extent and nature of that harm. Drug harm is also context specific, and so any comprehensive assessment of drug harm should be relevant to the character...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford) Vol. 37; no. 9; pp. 891 - 903
Main Authors:	Crossin, Rose, Cleland, Lana, Wilkins, Chris, Rychert, Marta, Adamson, Simon, Potiki, Tuari, Pomerleau, Adam C, MacDonald, Blair, Faletanoai, Dwaine, Hutton, Fiona, Noller, Geoff, Lambie, Ian, Sheridan, Jane L, George, Jason, Mercier, Kali, Maynard, Kristen, Leonard, Louise, Walsh, Patricia, Ponton, Rhys, Bagshaw, Sue, Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh, McIntosh, Tracey, Poot, Edward, Gordon, Paul, Sharry, Patrick, Nutt, David, Boden, Joseph
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London, England SAGE Publications 01-09-2023 Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:	Drug abuse Methamphetamine Original Papers Population studies Psychotropic drugs Workshops New Zealand drug harm Aotearoa drug policy youth psychoactive drugs
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Aims: The harms arising from psychoactive drug use are complex, and harm reduction strategies should be informed by a detailed understanding of the extent and nature of that harm. Drug harm is also context specific, and so any comprehensive assessment of drug harm should be relevant to the characteristics of the population in question. This study aimed to evaluate and rank drug harms within Aotearoa New Zealand using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) framework, and to separately consider harm within the total population, and among youth. Methods: Two facilitated workshops involved the separate ranking of harm for the total population, and then for youth aged 12–17, by two expert panels. In the total population workshop, 23 drugs were scored against 17 harm criteria, and those criteria were then evaluated using a swing weighting process. Scoring and weighting were subsequently updated during the youth-specific workshop. All results were recorded and analysed using specialised MCDA software. Results: When considering overall harm, the MCDA modelling results indicated that alcohol, methamphetamine and synthetic cannabinoids were the most harmful to both the overall population and the youth, followed by tobacco in the total population. Alcohol remained the most harmful drug for the total population when separately considering harm to those who use it, and harm to others. Conclusions: The results provide detailed and context-specific insight into the harm associated with psychoactive drugs use within Aotearoa New Zealand. The findings also demonstrate the value of separately considering harm for different countries, and for different population subgroups.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0269-8811 1461-7285
DOI:	10.1177/02698811231182012