新西蘭藥品政策的評估與選擇

Assessing and selecting drug policy in New Zealand

分析和評估本政策的優缺點

在你的分析中，你要考慮以下指導性問題：

現在的政策是什么？

政策是如何、何時以及為何產生的？

什么影響政策制定者采取特定的行動方針，政策的目標是什么？

政策制定者是誰？

哪一個，如果有的話，他們代表的利益集團？

什么是階段和方法，包括組織安排和結構，在決策過程中使用？

有興趣的團體，如果有的話，已經咨詢，什么來源和各種意見已獲得？

政策的制定過程是否已經采納了我們所能期待的最好？如何改進？

這是好政策嗎？

它實現了什么？

不同的政策可能會產生更好的結果嗎？為誰？

現在的政策需要改變嗎？

改變它是可行的嗎？

Analyse and assess the strengths and weaknesses of this policy

In your analysis, you are to consider the following guided questions:

What is the present policy?

How, when, and why did the policy come into being?

What influenced policy -makers to adopt a particular course of action, what were the objectives of the policy?

Who are the policy-makers?

Which, if any, interest groups do they represent?

What have been the stages and methods, including organizational arrangements and structures, used in the policy-making process?

What interested groups, if any, have been consulted and what sources and kinds of advice have been obtained?

Is the process of policy-making that has been adopted the best we can hope for? How might it be improved?

Is it good policy?

What has it achieved?

Would a different policy be likely to yield better results? For whom?

Does the present policy need changing?

Is it feasible to change it and in what ways?

The present drug policy in New Zealand is dated from 2007 to 2012. It is still the policy that is being implemented and it covers alcohol, drug and tobacco to different age groups and ethnics. It is based from the first policy 1998-2003. In the second one, the government as well as the non-government sectors are still working on it in order to provide better rules and regulations for the citizens especially the younger generation.#p#分頁標題#e#

These policies exist due to the fact that more and more individuals engaged in illegal drugs, drinking alcoholic beverages and killing themselves slowly by inhaling toxic substances like tobacco. Most of the people involved are even minors, which is very alerting for the whole country. The first policy aims to prevent and control the damages to the community. There are several programmes and action plans to reduce the cause and effects of those products. It has been documented that there was a great change since the implementation of the first policy. People were trying to cooperate with the government by following the law which is a good sign for the authority.

The first policy is beneficial enough for the nation. It is a good start to know if there is a need to improve when it comes to the rules and regulations, and what are the things to be revised or even eliminate. It is perfect as a dry- run, and reducing the harms of illegal substances to everyone who patronise is another strength of this act. It is essential to decrease the number of users and drinkers and rehabilitate them so that their mind and body will back to normal and think in a right way. This is achievable by the support, love and care given by their own families as well as the government. By this way they feel important and still useful which will really help them in improving and eventually change for the better. Another good point is that this policy provides measures and these are; to control the supply in the market, to reduce the demand and to minimise or limit the cause and effects to the people.

In every policy there is always a defect or faulty policy. One of the weaknesses is that it does not have a strong foundation. There was a lack in law enforcement and safety security within the nation. In order to control and limit the demands, rules and regulations must be strictly followed. There was not enough strategies, risks management and mitigation process, and there was no clear goals and objectives in the first policy. There should be a proper step by step procedures to carefully deliver it to the public.

In this reasons the government is planning to strengthen the laws, strategies and plans for drugs, alcohol and tobacco. That is why the second policy comes into being. They are making it clear by providing objectives and setting goals as their guidelines. There are more non-government agencies involved and even the community itself working together to be able to achieve it and minimise the harms and control the use of illegal substances.

The policy-makers believe that there is a long effect of using drugs and it needs to be addressed as early as possible. They also realised that they need a wide range of strategies that are necessary for their target people which are Maori, Pacific and young people. They provided different programmes with the help of other agencies.#p#分頁標題#e#

The main goal of National Drug policy is to lessen and avert the harms related to alcohol, prohibited drugs and tobacco to the health, social and economic of the people involved. They also set several objectives for the second policy in order to achieve their aims. There are six objectives listed, mostly focused on reducing and preventing the harms caused by the three products to the people. They also want to provide safer environment for the families as well as to the communities. As what have mentioned earlier, there are so many sectors working together just to achieved their plans.

It really requires a large group of people, one those is the MCDP (Ministerial Committee on drug Policy) and the Inter-Agency Committee on drugs (IACD). Each of the agencies have their own groups assigned and are devoted to work as a team. They must arrange and participate in every plans and strategies and eventually combine together with the same goals and objectives. They are also require to monitor, review and analyse their own projects in order to know if they are on the same track. Other stakeholders like employers, industry, volunteer individuals and other non-government organisations are also cooperating.

In the second policy, the only weakness is that it just focus on reducing and controlling the use of toxic substances, tobacco smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages of the individuals. The government must have totally ban the illegal drugs and other substances like methamphetamine, cocaine etc. so that the community would not be urged to buy those products. The prices of cigarettes, tobacco, and alcohol must be high enough just so the people would think twice to patronise those and instead buy food products and other healthy commodities. The authority or any other politicians should be trained properly and are not allowed to accept any gifts from drug lords and businessman just to be able to operate in the country.

However, there are great things about the second policy. One of these is that, it covers everyone especially the users of illegal drugs. They do not limit it to their citizens but also to other ethnics living in New Zealand. Similarly, they provided a bunch of activities to the people which will divert the attention of such individuals most especially the young ones. There are several programmes allotted to the schools, community and other suburbs. The authority also ensure that they give budgets for the success of this policy. They even propose rehabilitation programmes and are willing to provide mental health facilities for those who are in need just to minimise the harms to the people.

The second policy is doable since there are so many agencies involved in this project. Proper organisation with a right direction and working hand and hand are very important to be able to achieve all of these. The government and other sectors play a big role in this policy since they serve as the fuel to make it feasible. Everything will just follow with a better guidance and with a perfect structure of plans and framework. People within the country will leave no choice but to obey the set rules and regulations. Once the policy is totally implemented, monitoring and evaluating it must be done regularly, for without doing it, all of the exerted efforts and liabilities will be useless. It is very important to review since it will be the basis whether there is a need to revise, improve or change the said policy. Proper documentation or recording is vital in this process so that the future management will have a visual records and will further make an effective and better policy for drugs, tobacco and alcohol.#p#分頁標題#e#

In conclusion, the strengths and weaknesses of the first policy are very helpful in making the second policy. It is the government’s basis in order to make an outstanding policy for the people in New Zealand in the next five years. Working together with other local authority, concern groups, communities, families and other stakeholders are the key to success of the results of this policy. Reducing and preventing the bad effects to the health of the people is the main concern of this policies. It is basically on the process for the betterment of the people living in the country.