Australian threshold quantities for ‘drug trafficking’: are they placing drug users at risk of unjustified sanction?

This study uses data on patterns of drug user consumption and purchasing to evaluate Australian legal threshold quantities to see whether Australian drug users are at risk of exceeding the thresholds for personal use alone. Introduction Drug trafficking in Australia is deemed a very serious offence, one for which legislators and courts have ruled general deterrence is paramount and ‘little mercy’ should be shown. A principal challenge has been how to effectively differentiate and sanction participants in the drug trade—particularly how to differentiate ‘traffickers’ from those who consume or purchase illicit drugs for personal use alone. To assist in this endeavour, all Australian states and territories have adopted legal thresholds that specify quantities of drugs over which offenders are either presumed to have possessed the drugs ‘for the purposes of supply’ and liable to sanction as ‘drug traffickers’ (up to 15 years imprisonment in most states), or in the case of Queensland, liable to sanctions equivalent to drug traffickers (up to 25 years imprisonment). Yet, in spite of known risks from adopting such thresholds, particularly of an unjustified conviction of a user as a trafficker, the capacity of Australian legal thresholds to deliver proportional sanctioning has been subject to limited research to date. This paper summarises key findings from a Criminology Research Grant funded project. The broader project examined this issue in two different ways—whether the thresholds are designed to filter traffickers from users and whether they enable appropriate sanctioning of traffickers of different controlled drugs. Herein, the focus is on the former—to what extent Australian legal thresholds unwittingly place users at risk of unjustified and disproportionate charge or sanction as traffickers

Measuring Workload Among Health Education Faculty

Legislation nationwide has mandated millions in funding cuts to state funded universities over the past several years. Additionally, university administrators frequently find themselves in the position to quantify faculty workload and productivity. The purpose of the study was to assess methodologies used by a national sample of universities to determine and assign faculty workload within health education programs. Methods included a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted utilizing a mailed survey to 106 department chairs or program directors of Health Education programs at various universities across the country. Results showed that the majority (87%) of health education programs reported using credit hours as a measure of faculty workload (rather than contact hours). For undergraduate health education faculty 12 credit hours was the typical teaching load for 54% of respondents while 35% taught nine or less credit hours. For graduate health education faculty 48% had a full time teaching load of nine hours or less while 37% reported 12 credit hours as a full time load. At the undergraduate level, administrators allocate the majority of faculty time for teaching (61% of effort) while at the graduate level the effort allocation was slightly shifted toward research with teaching occupying 58% of faculty time. It is anticipated that the results of this study will assist faculty and administrators in making informed decisions regarding faculty workload assignments

Application of the PEN-3 Model in a Diabetes Prevention Intervention

More effective strategies for addressing health issues in African American communities are needed. As part of a three year NIH funded Project Export grant, this community campus partnership used community-based participatory research principles and thePEN-3 Cultural Framework to develop a culturally specific, locally relevant intervention to prevent Diabetes among African-Americans. A comprehensive needs assessment which included 13 elicitation interviews, 3 focus groups, and 217 surveys resulted in identifying major themes including overall lack of knowledge regarding Diabetes,issues of denial and stigma, sense of inevitability, influence of family on perceptionsand behaviors, communication issues with health care providers, and lack of culturally sensitive materials. Community partners provided input into the assessment strategies,materials and intervention development, as well as recruitment and information dissemination strategies which in conjunction with the Pen-3 framework, allowed us to develop a culturally relevant strategy for reducing Diabetes related health disparities in our community

The Valuation of Wetlands

This Article asserts that an understanding of wetland valuation requires consideration of many disciplines, including biology, chemistry, social sciences, economics, and state and federal law. The authors explain that wetland valuation is dependent upon the definition of wetland in the area under study and the surrounding situation, and conclude that if practitioners understand the major points of wetland appraisal, they will be able to present hearing officers and judges with relatively sophisticated, comprehensive, and accurate information upon which rulings can be based

Effectiveness of a short video-based educational intervention on factors related to clinical trial participation in adolescents and young adults: a pre-test/post-test design

Abstract Background Poor clinical trial enrollment continues to be pervasive and is especially problematic among young adults and youth, and among minorities. Efforts to address barriers to enrollment have been predominantly focused on adult diseased populations. Because older adults may already have established attitudes, it is imperative to identify strategies that target adolescents and young adults. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an educational video on factors related to clinical trial participation among a healthy adolescent and young adult population. Methods Participants completed a 49-item pre-test, viewed a 10-min video, and completed a 45-item post-test to assess changes in attitudes, knowledge, self-efficacy, receptivity to, and intention to participate (primary outcome) in clinical trials. Descriptive statistics, paired samples t-tests, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted. Results The final analyses included 935 participants. The mean age was 20.7 years, with almost 70% aged 18 to 20 years. The majority were female (73%), non-Hispanic (92.2%), white (70%), or African American (20%). Participants indicated a higher intention to participate in a clinical trial (p < 0.0001) and receptivity to hearing more about a clinical trial (p < 0.0001) after seeing the video. Intention to participate (definitely yes and probably yes) increased by an absolute 18% (95% confidence interval 15–22%). There were significant improvements in attitudes, knowledge, and self-efficacy scores for all participants (p < 0.0001). Conclusions The results of this study showed strong evidence for the effectiveness of a brief intervention on factors related to participation in clinical trials. This supports the use of a brief intervention, in a traditional educational setting, to impact the immediate attitudes, knowledge, self-efficacy, and intention to participate in clinical trial research among diverse, healthy adolescents and young adults.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146769/1/13063_2018_Article_3097.pd

Acceptability and appeal of a web-based smoking prevention intervention for adolescents.

Abstract English: Cigarette smoking has been identified as the most important source of preventable morbidity and premature mortality worldwide (American Lung Association, 2002). Statistics show that youth who do smoke report having their first cigarette while in middle school, thus this is a critical opportunity for prevention (Eissenburg &amp; Balster, 2000). This project helps expand current knowledge of adolescent smoking prevention programs by demonstrating an understanding of adolescents&apos; preference for and acceptability of the Internet in the delivery of a smoking prevention intervention. A qualitative usability study was conducted among middle school students using focus groups. Results found that the Internet is a good choice for delivery of a prevention program due to its accessibility, including the availability in most schools. Elements of interactivity and expert-trusted guidance were identified as appealing. In addition, the use of pictures and graphics in conjunction with text, can be useful in reaching students with varied learning styles. By using this non-traditional approach, health education and promotion can work i

Depressive symptomology and cancer incidence in men and women : Longitudinal evidence from the HUNT study

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Relationship of Self-Determination Theory Constructs and Physical Activity and Diet in a Mexican American Population in Nueces County, Texas

Due to disparities in stroke risk among U.S. Hispanics, the need for culturally tailored, theory based effective health behavior change interventions persists. The purpose of this study was to examine self-determination theory (SDT) constructs related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a predominantly Mexican American population. The Stroke Health and Risk Education (SHARE) project was a cluster-randomized, faith-based behavioral intervention trial that enrolled Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) from Catholic Churches in Nueces County, Texas. Data regarding SDT constructs and dietary and physical activity behaviors were collected via computer-assisted interviews using standardized instruments at the baseline assessment. Of the 801 subjects who consented, 760 completed baseline interviews. After eliminating cases with missing data, 733 participants (617 MA and 116 NHW) were included in the analyses. Participants were predominantly Mexican American (84%) and female (64%), and had a median age of 53 years. There were no significant ethnic differences in any of the baseline SDT scale scores with the exception of higher autonomous motivation scores for exercise among MAs (7.00 vs. 6.67, p = 0.01). Demographic differences in mean SDT scale scores were identified for sex, age, and income. Perceived competence and autonomous motivation were both significant predictors of diet and physical activity behaviors. This study increases our understanding of SDT constructs relative to diet and physical activity in a large, predominantly Mexican American sample. The results indicate that SDT is an appropriate framework to address CVD behavioral risk factors in a predominantly Hispanic population