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If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. The research described in this report was sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, by the United States Army, and by RAND's Drug Policy Research Center with funding from The Ford Foundation. ISBN: 0-8330-1553-2 149602 U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organization originating it. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Inslilute of Justice, Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material in ml­ c:roflche only has been granted by Rand Corporation 10 the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permis­ sion of the copyright owner, RAND is a nonprofit institution that seeks to improve public policy through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of its research sponsors. Published 1994 by RAND 1700 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 To order RAND documents or to obtain. additional information, con.tact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Internet: [email protected]. RAND Modeling the Demand for Cocaine Susan S. Everingham C. Peter Rydell Prepared for the Office of National Drug Control Policy United States Army - • DRUG POLICY RESEARCH CENTER Approved for public release; distribution unlimited PREFACE This report documents the development of a model of the demand for cocaine that was fit to 20 years of data on the current cocaine epidemic in the United States. It also describes the analysis performed, including the estimation of incidence, preva­ lence, cohort retention, and consumption. The impetus for the model's develop­ ment was a parallel RAND analysis of cocaine-control programs (see Controlling Cocaine: Supply Versus Demand Programs, C. Peter Rydell and Susan S. Everingham, MR-331-0NDCP/AIDPRC, 1994), of which this analysis is a key component. How­ ever, the model of cocaine demand is useful in its own right, leading to new insights on the nature of the cocaine problem. The work reported here was sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Army, RAND's Drug Policy Research Center (DPRC) with funding from The Ford Foundation, and RAND's Social Policy Department. The research was jointly carried out within three RAND entities: the DPRC, the National Defense Research Institute (NDRI), and the Strategy and Doctrine Program of the Arroyo Center. NDRI is a federally funded research and development center that supports the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, and the defense agencies. The Arroyo Center is the U.S. Army's federally funded research and development center. .~ iii CONTENTS Preface . • . iii Figures . vii Tables. ix Summary. .. .. .. .. .. xi Acknowledgments. xix Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1 Objective ............................................... 1 Background , ............................................ 2 Data Used to Fit Model ..................................... 3 Limitations of the Model .................................... 3 Report Organization and Overview ............................ 4 Chapter Two MARKOVIAN MODELS OF DEMAND ........................... 7 Chapter Three ESTIMATES OF THE PREVALENCE OF COCAINE USE OVER TIME ..... 11 Estimates of Prevalence Derived from the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse .......................•............ 11 Definition of Light and Heavy Users ............................ 13 Variation in the Fractiun of Heavy Users over Time ..................' 18 Estimates of Pr·evalence .Among the Homeless .................... 19 The Number of Homeless and N ear-Homeless .................. 19 The Fraction of Homeless That Use Cocaine .................... 20 The Numbers of Light and Heavy Cocaine Users in the Homeless/Near-Homeless Population ...................... 22 Estimates of Prevalence Among the Incarcerated .................. 22 The Size of the U.S. Incarcerated Population .................... 23 The Fraction of the Incarcerated Population That Use Cocaine ...... 23 The Numbers of Light and Heavy Cocaine Users in the Incarcerated Population ................................. 25 Overall Prevalence Estimates ................................. 25 v vi Modeling the Demand for Cocaine Chapter Four COCAINE USER COHORT RETENTION . 29 Chapter Five ESTIMATES OF THE INCIDENCE OF COCAINE USE OVER TIME. 31 Chapter Six FITTING THE MODEL. 35 The Fitting Procedure ......... 35 The Fitted Model. 43 Chapter Seven FINDINGS: UNDERSTANDING THE PAST 47 Chapter Eight FINDINGS: PROJECTING THE FUTURE ............. 51 References .................................................. 59 FIGURES S.l. Overall Prevalence of Cocaine Users in the United States .......... xii S.2. Overall Prevalence of Cocaine Users: Modeled vs. Observed. xiii S.3. Percentage of Users That Are Heavy Users: Modeled vs. Observed ............................................. xiii SA. Cohort Retention: Modeled vs. Observed ..................... xiv S.5. Modeled Percentage of Users ThatAre Heavy Users: Variation overTime ............................................ xiv S.6. Modeled Prevalence: Heavyvs. Light Users ................... xvi S.7. Modeled Consumption: Heavyvs. Light Users ................. xvi S.8. Prevalence Assuming Constant Incidence .................... xvii S.9. Consumption Assuming Constant Incidence .................. xvii S.10. Prevalence Assuming Zero Incidence ... _ .................... xviii S.ll. Consumption Assuming Zero Incidence ...................... xviii 2.1. A One-State Markovian Model ............................. 8 2.2. A Two-State Markovian Model ............................. 9 3.1. Number of People Reporting Lifetime, Past-Year, and Past- Month Cocaine Use ..................................... 13 3.2. Cumulative Percentage of Consumption vs. Cumulative Percentage of Users ..................................... 16 3.3. Average Annual Amount of Cocaine Consumed by Light and Heavy-Users Normalized to Average Amount Consumed by Average Users ......................................... 17 304. Numbers of Homeless, Homeless and Near-Homeless, and Adult Homeless/Near-Homeless over the Past Two Decades ........... 21 3.5. Light, Heavy, anq Total Cocaine Users in the U.S. Homeless/Near~;Homeless Population ....................... 23 3.6. Federal Prison, State Prison, and Jail Populations in the United States over Time ....................................... 25 3.7. Light, Heavy, and Total Cocaine Users in the U.S. Incarcerated Population ........................................... 26 3.B. Overall Prevalence of Cocaine Users in the United States ......... 27 4.1. Cohort Retention Calculated from Three NHSDAs and the Average .............................................. 30 5.1. Estimation ofAnnual Incidence: Comparison of Four Methods .... 32 6.1. Sum Squared Delta Prevalence for Fixedf= 0.04 and g= 0.02 ...... 37 6.2. Ten-Year Cohort Retention for Fixed f= 0.04 and g= 0.02 ......... 38 vii --------------------------------------------- viii Modeling the Demand for Cocaine 6.3. Fraction of Users That Are Heavy Users for Fixed/= 0.04, g= 0.02, and a= 0.15. 39 6.4. Sum Squared Delta Prevalence for Fixed a = 0.15 and b = 0.024 . 40 6.5. Ten-Year Cohort Retention for Fixed a = 0.15 and b = 0.024 . 41 6.6. Fraction of Users That Are Heavy Users for Fixed a = 0.15, b= 0.024, and g= 0.02 . 42 6.7. Fraction of Users That Are Heavy Users for Fixed a= 0.15, b= 0.024, and /= 0.04 . 42 6.8. The Fitted Model. 43 6.9. Overall Prevalence of Cocaine Users: Modeled vs. Observed. 44 6.10. Percentage of Users That Are Heavy Users: Modeled vs. Observed ............................................. 45 6.11. Cohort Retention: Modeled vs. Observed. 45 7.1. Modeled Percentage of Users ThatAre Heavy Users: Variation over Time . 47 7.2. Modeled Prevalence: Heavyvs. Light Users . 49 7.3. Modeled Consumption: Heavy vs. Light Users. 49 8.1. Hypothetical Scenario 1: Constant Incidence. 52 8.2. Hypothetical Scenario 2: Incidence Halved in 15 Years. 53 8.3. Hypothetical Scenario 3: Inc.idence Extrapolated to Near-Zero in 15 Years .............................................. 55 8.4. Hypothetical Scenario 4: Temporary Surge in Incidence. 56 8.5. Hypothetical Scenario 5: Zero Incidence . 57 TABLES 3.1. Estimates of Populations at Risk and Percentage of Population Reporting Cocaine Use ................................... 12 3.2. Definition of Light and Heavy Cocaine Use. 15 3.3. Reported Number of Past-Month Cocaine Users Distinguished by Frequency and Amount. 15 3.4. Estimated Amount of Cocaine Consumed During Past 30 Days by All Frequency Groups .................................... 16 3.5. Percentage of All Household Users That Were Heavy Users in 1985,1988, and 1990 ..................................... 18 3.6. Counts of Various Incarcerated Populations. 24 3.7. Percentage of All Users That Were Heavy Users in 1985,1988, and 1990 ......... , .......... '" .. " . ... .. .. ... ... 27 6.1. Summary Measures of Model Performance .................... 46 ix SUMMARY Although the status of the "war against cocaine" was still being debated just a few years ago, now it is generally understood that even though the overall number of co­ caine users is decreasing, the proportion of those users that are the so-called heavy users is increasing.

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