Media Releases

New research from the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation suggests that legalization and greater retail availability of recreational marijuana is positively associated with marijuana use among adolescents. The researchers investigated whether legalization of recreational marijuana sales in 2015 and retail availability of marijuana in Oregon counties were associated with […]

A new study by collaborators at Klein Buendel, Inc. and the Prevention Research Center finds that recreational cannabis stores in Colorado and Washington state, both of which legalized adult recreational use in 2012, show high levels of compliance with rules preventing underage purchase of cannabis. The study also shows that there is more than can […]

“State Policies Targeting Alcohol Use during Pregnancy and Alcohol Use among Pregnant Women 1985–2016: Evidence from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System” won the Charles E. Gibbs Leadership Prize for the best paper published in Women’s Health Issues in 2019. Authored by Sarah CM Roberts, Amy A. Mericle, Meenakshi S. Subbaraman, Sue Thomas, Ryan D. […]

A new study from the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation offers a more in-depth understanding of smoking among patients in an urban emergency department. Studying patients in urban emergency departments matters because these patients smoke cigarettes and use other substances at higher rates than the general population. The data […]

Every time someone drinks an alcoholic beverage, she or he will drink that beverage at some place and some time.  Not surprisingly, this means that the physical and social environments in which that drinking takes place will be affected by: The physical characteristics of places that may encourage drinking, such as the ready availability of […]

Using in-depth interviews with 13 adolescents (16-19 years of age) who used alcohol and marijuana, this study examines the role that social and physical contexts play in adolescent decision-making about simultaneous use of alcohol and marijuana.   The research findings show that context matters in three ways: context characteristics inform decisions about simultaneous use, context […]

Because most people who smoke cigarettes begin young, public health efforts to prevent tobacco use among youth are a priority. The increasing popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) or e-cigarettes,also called personal vaporizers, vape pens, e-cigars, e-hookah, vaping devices, mod systems or pod systems, raises concerns about normalizing cigarette smoking and perpetuating nicotine addiction. […]