The national drug education program : a case analysis of the role of experts in policy determination

Abstract

The research is concerned with the question of values in public policy-making in the area of drug abuse control and with, the role of experts in deteimining those values. Its principal focus is drug education policy. The study traces the development of the National Drug Education Program of the Australian Government. It examines the emerging instrumental philosophy of drug education, its evolution over time in the face of opposition from particular politicians and from experts in other areas of drug abuse policy. It looks at the debate now taking shape about the kinds of end values that drug education policy is to establish. The research takes as its framework the sociological perspective which views social policies as important instruments of control. It contends that it is important to understand the nature of expert participation in policy-making in so-called "social problem" areas. By their defining of the problem, their forging of policy and their constructing of the means whereby policies are to be realised, experts have themselves become important agents of social control. The study is an exploratory one. It was carried out within the Australian Department of Health. The data on which it is based are the minutes of meetings, working papers, briefing materials, reports, pamphlets and extensive departmental files of the Drugs of dependence Section within the Department.