ABSTRACT
Legal epidemiology is the scientific study of the health effects of laws and legal practices. As states increasingly experiment with regulatory alternatives to the prohibition of non-medical use of controlled substances, such research will be key to a global effort to identify and spread healthy drug policies. Virtually all drugs, however regulated, can cause harm to at least some users. Virtually all laws, no matter how framed, can operate in ways that are inequitable, unjust or that cause harm to health. Conscious policy experimentation, in which new approaches are tested and evaluated in a timely manner, is crucial to developing and maintaining regulatory approaches that improve on the status quo.
