While the decision to consume drugs corresponds to consumers themselves governments could contribute to discourage drug taking or drug-related actions that are considered harmful to an individual’s wellbeing, the wellbeing of others, or that raise broader public health concerns. This could be attained through a combination of rules, norms and policy programs. But how to be sure that such rules, norms, and policy programs will attain their intended outcomes? I argue that that policy success, in terms of drug use reduction, will depend upon our ability to understand the connections among a rule or policy, the attitudes of the individuals whose actions one is trying to influence, and the objectives that policy designers seek to attain.
The proposed research paper is part of an ongoing investigation on the causal connection among institutions, behavior, and policy outcomes. It uses a Q-sorting method and semi-structured interviews to gather information from marijuana users between 18 and 24 years old. The gathered information sheds light on the role that users’ attitudes play on their decisions to use the drug, and to reflect on the features that public policies could incorporate to persuade users to voluntarily reduce their consumption.
Preliminary results from a pilot study conducted in San Diego, California (USA) show that perceptions on the use of marijuana, its health consequences, and the reasons that would motivate users to reduce consumption and comply with established regulations differ. The design of policy interventions to induce self-regulatory behavior must take users’ perceptions into account if the aim is to increase regulatory effectiveness.
Espinosa_Abstract_and_authors_information_.pdf 