“It's going to get pretty tippy”: Stakeholder perspectives on the (dys)function of a four pillars drug strategy

Original research
by
Greer, A., Zakimi, N., & Ritter, A.

Release Date

2024

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

This study examined drug policy stakeholders’ perspectives on the structure, function, and fit of a four pillar drug strategy framework in Vancouver, Canada.

Findings/Key points

Findings were organized under three main themes: (1) the notion of ‘balance’ of efforts, resources, and attention across the pillars; (2) how the pillars function as a cohesive whole; (3) whether the pillars’ architecture is still fit-for-purpose. The architecture of four discrete pillars did not enable a sense of cohesion and collaboration of efforts, and instead elicited a sense of competition, conflict, fragmentation, simplicity, and rigidity of the strategy as a whole. These findings suggest that, in practice, a four pillars framework may be structurally dysfunctional in working towards a common goal and may need to be reenvisaged.

Design/methods

Qualitative interview data from 15 drug policy stakeholders were used to examine perspectives on Vancouver's four pillar drug strategy that was implemented over 20 years ago.

Keywords

Advocacy
Harm reduction
Legal system/law enforcement
Policy/Regulatory