Views regarding national policies about illicit drugs: A pilot study among people living in Bogota

The present study investigated the views regarding governmental policies for the control of drugs in people living in Bogota. It used the methodology of Functional Measurement. Participants were not instructed to judge the acceptability of components of drug policies (e.g., acceptability of needle exchange programs) but the acceptability of the policy itself (e.g., acceptability of a policy of complete prohibition). One hundred eighty-five participants (mean age = 35) who lived in different areas of the city were presented with a series of 12 vignettes. These vignettes were composed according to a two within-subject orthogonal factor design: (a) existence of information campaigns regarding the dangerousness of drugs, and (b) current state policy regarding soft and hard drugs (e.g., complete laissez- faire, complete prohibition, regulation policy for both soft and hard drugs). The question was “To what extent do you think that, in these circumstances, the position of the State is politically acceptable?” Through K-means analyses, an interpretable six-cluster solution was identified. These clusters were called radical constructionists (51%), progressive prohibitionists (22%), free trade libertarians (11%), undecided (10%), and cultural conservatives (6%). Public opinion in Bogota seems to be at variance with public policy regarding the management of the illicit drug issue.