British Medical Association Selects ‘Drug Policy and the Public Good’ as Best Public Health Book of 2010

I get more than the usual narcissistic pleasure an award brings from this considerable honor bestowed by BMA. It took almost five years for our team of 12 researchers from 7 countries to write Drug Policy and the Public Good. The process was stimulating but also, frankly, arduous. In many areas, drug policy research doesn’t give an empirically clear enough picture to overcome differences in political views and national predilections, leading even intelligent people of good will who like each other to argue (and argue and argue and argue, I am fortunate not to have lost my friendship with Robin Room as a consequence of this book). The end result is a book that each author disagrees with in some specific parts, but in general reflects hard-won consensus of what the international scientific base says.

p.s. The profits from this book go to the Society for the Study of Addiction, a registered charity in the UK.

Author: Keith Humphreys

Keith Humphreys is the Esther Ting Memorial Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and an Honorary Professor of Psychiatry at Kings College London. His research, teaching and writing have focused on addictive disorders, self-help organizations (e.g., breast cancer support groups, Alcoholics Anonymous), evaluation research methods, and public policy related to health care, mental illness, veterans, drugs, crime and correctional systems. Professor Humphreys' over 300 scholarly articles, monographs and books have been cited over thirteen thousand times by scientific colleagues. He is a regular contributor to Washington Post and has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Monthly, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian (UK), The Telegraph (UK), Times Higher Education (UK), Crossbow (UK) and other media outlets.

3 thoughts on “British Medical Association Selects ‘Drug Policy and the Public Good’ as Best Public Health Book of 2010”

Comments are closed.