Workshops for the ISSDP 2023 will take place from 14:00-17:00, on June 1st.
Four workshops will be offered:
- Methods Workshop: Advancements Using Difference-in-difference methods in drug policy evaluation
- Drug policy evaluation
- Available data for drug policy analysis
- Connecting ISSDP/research to affected communities and marginalised groups
Below you will find a summary of the workshops and their facilitators. More information will be posted shortly.
Workshop 1
Methods Workshop: Advancements Using Difference-in-difference methods in drug policy evaluation
Workshop facilitators: Rosanna Smart (RAND Corporation) and Rosalie Liccardo Pacula (University of Southern California)
Workshop summary:
This workshop is intended for drug policy scholars interested in understanding the recent statistical concerns and advancements related to the application of difference-in-differences methods for causal inference. Difference-in-differences type approaches commonly involve estimating regressions using repeated observations from the same jurisdictions over time in which some jurisdictions adopt a policy—such as decriminalization, legalization, or the opening of safe consumption locations—and others do not within the period being evaluated. In their most common implementation, these regressions typically control for time period (e.g. quarter, year) and jurisdiction-specific (e.g. country, state, county) fixed effects—commonly referred to as two-way fixed effects—as well as aggregate jurisdiction-level, time-varying covariates. This approach, which has been a work horse in policy evaluation have often been interpreted as providing unbiased estimates of the average treatment effect (i.e., the average true causal impact of the policy) because of their inclusion of non-treated control jurisdictions and the pre-post evaluative design which allows analysts to control for average differences across jurisdictions and secular trends affecting all units at around the same time as the policy being adopted.
This course will review the assumptions that are necessary for these models to produce accurate causal estimates of policy effects, as well as issues that arise with these methods when underlying assumptions are violated, such as heterogeneous policy effects over time or across adopting jurisdictions and failures of the parallel trends assumption. The goal of this workshop is to provide its attendees with (1) a solid understanding of potential concerns about bias when standard two-way fixed effects methods are applied in contexts commonly evaluated by drug policy researchers, (2) knowledge of what sort of statistical checks can and should be done to assess the validity of model assumptions, and (3) an overview of alternative methods that might be preferable if validity is questionable. Both strengths and limitations of newly developed difference-in-differences methods aimed at addressing treatment effect heterogeneity will be discussed, so that those in attendance will leave the workshop with confidence that they can identify strong designs and applications of these methods when evaluating drug policy programs.
Workshop 3
Expanding data sources for drug policy research: opening up monitoring data sets
Workshop facilitators: Peter Reuter (University of Maryland)
Workshop Summary:
Many data sets are gathered by agencies for monitoring purposes are rarely used by researchers but have important potential. At this workshop, presentations will be made about four such data sets, with half the time to be devoted to audience Q&A. The general format to be followed by each presenter is:
- The motivation for the development of the data set and how it is currently used by the agency
- How the data set is assembled and your assessment of its strengths and weaknesses.
- Conditions under which outside researchers can access the data.
- Your own views of its possible use by independent scholars.
The four data sets and the presenters are:
- The Annual Report Questionnaire (UNODC): Antoine Vella
- Waste Water Surveillance (EMCDDA): Paul Griffiths
- Illicit Drug Reporting System (NDARC): Amy Peacock
- Drug Monitoring Program (UNODC): Francesca Massanello
Workshop 4
Connecting ISSDP/research to affected communities and marginalised groups
Workshop facilitators: Rebecca Askew (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Workshop summary:
We invite ISSDP conference delegates to join us for a workshop to discuss how the society could better connect to affected communities and marginalised groups. Many ISSDP members are working within, or are a part of affected communities, which could include peer-led advocacy and support groups, those with lived experience of use and supply, and those who have experienced discrimination due to gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity and health inequities. We would like to take the opportunity to discuss the global networks of our members, and ways in which we can build and connect these networks within ISSDP.
The workshop will be an open forum for discussion of how to strategize this, which could include building a database, discussing contextual challenges of engaging those living within punitive regimes, and best-practice principles for co-production and ethics in research.
We will contact you about your selection of workshop. Please be aware that you may only be registered for one workshop as they occur simultaneously.
