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An Ounce of Prevention, a Pound of Uncertainty

The Cost-Effectiveness of School-Based Drug Prevention Programs

Cover: MR-923 | An Ounce of Prevention, a Pound of Uncertainty:  The Cost-Effectiveness of School-Based Drug Prevention Programs

By: Jonathan P. Caulkins, Susan S. Everingham, C. Peter Rydell, James Chiesa, Shawn Bushway

Focuses on school-based drug prevention programs that have proven effective in formal evaluations. Effectiveness at reducing cocaine consumption is inferred from effectiveness at reducing marijuana initiation, and spillover effects on those not participating in the program are accounted for. Given substantial uncertainties in all pertinent factors, the cost-effectiveness estimation framework is constructed to permit easy substitution of alternate values at reader preference or as more information becomes available. The authors conclude that prevention can reduce lifetime cocaine consumption by 2 to 11 percent. Although these effects are small, prevention programs are inexpensive, so that the associated cost-effectiveness values bracket those of a range of enforcement strategies. Treatment, however, appears more cost-effective than prevention. A nationwide drug prevention program would cost only a tiny fraction of what the United States now spends on drug control, but its effect on the cocaine-using population would be modest and slow to accumulate.

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Paperback Cover Price: $40.00

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Pages: 227

ISBN/EAN: 0-8330-2560-0

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Contents

Preface PDF

Figures PDF

Tables PDF

Summary PDF

Acknowledgments PDF

Chapter One:
Introduction PDF

Chapter Two:
Effectiveness at Reducing Cocaine Consumption PDF

Chapter Three:
Cost-Effectiveness at Reducing Cocaine Consumption PDF

Chapter Four:
Other Benefits PDF

Chapter Five:
Nationwide Implementation PDF

Chapter Six:
Conclusions and Policy Implications PDF

Appendix A:
Estimating Average Lifetime Cocaine Consumption PDF

Appendix B:
Prevention's Effectiveness at Reducing Marijuana Initiation PDF

Appendix C:
Relationship Between Age of Marijuana Initiation and Lifetme Consumption of Cocaine and Marijuana PDF

Appendix D:
Estimating the Magnitude of the Social Multiplier PDF

Appendix E:
How Prevention's Cost-Effectiveness Varies Over Time PDF

Appendix F:
Estimating the Magnitude of the Market Multiplier PDF

Appendix G:
Estimating the Magnitude of the Causation/Correlation Qualifier PDF

Appendix H:
Estimating the Magnitude of the Scale-Up Degradation Qualifier PDF

Appendix I:
Prevention's Effect on Heavy Alcohol Use and Cigarette Smoking PDF

Appendix J:
Accumulation of Prevention's Effect Nationwide PDF

References PDF

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