The Drug Law and Health Policy Network is a collaboration between several institutions, researchers, and advocates devoted to understanding and eradicating the social, legal and political barriers that hamper effective prevention and treatment efforts with respect to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other infectious diseases. The Network's institutions include Beasley School of Law at Temple University, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, University of Connecticut Health Center, Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the International Harm Reduction Development program of the Open Society Institute, and the Drug Policy Alliance.

The Rapid Policy Assessment Tool (RPAT) and related training materials were developed by the Network through a grant from the International Harm Reduction Development program of the Open Society Institute. The Network wishes to acknowledge and give special thanks to Kasia Malinewski-Sempruch, Director of IHRD, and to Dr. Monica Cuipagea and the many IHRD staff who assisted in the coordination of the training and research projects facilitated by this grant.

The Network also thanks the World Health Organization Department of HIV/AIDS and Dr. Andrew Ball for his assistance and support with training materials and resources in developing this material, and the support and recommendation by Karl Dehne and Jean Paul Grund from UNAIDS for providing current research material and availability of "Best Practices" for HIV prevention among injection drug users. The Network wishes to acknowledge the generous support, encouragement, contributions of our colleagues at Imperial College, and for allowing us to borrow liberally from the RAR materials they have developed specific for injection drug use and sexual behavior related to HIV risk. They include Professor Gerry V. Stimson, Chris Fitch and Time Rhodes at The Centre on Drugs and Health Behaviour Department of Social Science and Medicine Imperial College of Medicine London, United Kingdom.

The Network also would like to recognize the contribution of The Structural Interventions Team at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University including: Kim Blankenship, Sarah Brag, Robert Heimer, Kaveh   Khoshnood and Michael Merson.

Scott Burris, J.D.
Professor, Temple University
Beasley School of Law
Senior Associate, Johns Hopkins School f Hygiene and Public Health
Associate Director, Center for Law and the Public's Health
1719 N. Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
215-204-6576 (voice)
215-204-1185 (fax)
Burris@temple.edu

Zita Lazzarini, J.D., M.P.H.
Director, Division of Medical Humanities,
Health Law and Ethics
University of Connecticut Health Center
263 Farmington Ave. MC-6325
Farmington, CT 06030-6325
860-679-5494 (voice)
860-679-5464 (fax)
Lazzarini@nso.uchc.edu

Patricia Case, M.P.H., DSc.
Program on Urban Health
Department of Social Medicine
Harvard Medical School
643 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
617-432-2564
patricia_case@hms.harvard.edu

Daniel N. Abrahamson
Director of Legal Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance
819 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, California 94710
(510) 229-5212 ph
(510) 295-2810 fx
dabrahamson@drugpolicy.org

Rapid Policy Assessment Tool

The Rapid Policy Assessment Tool (RPAT) is intended to provide a systematic methodology for the collection, analysis and development of an advocacy response to law and policy issues affecting the HIV/AIDS epidemic among injection drug users (IDUs). The resultant assessment is intended to facilitate and support the implementation of public health interventions that have been developed and implemented in numerous countries to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among IDUs.

Much of this technical manual was developed with a concerted effort to integrate this policy research tool into the Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR) work developed by researchers from Imperial College for the World Health Organization. Accordingly, many of the procedures and general guidelines were copied in whole or adopted in part from The Rapid Assessment and Response Guide on Injection Drug Use (IDU-RAR), Version May 1998, World Health Organization. (1)

There are a number of sources which describe and demonstrate the effectiveness of public health interventions and we recommend that the reader may wish to begin by reviewing the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2) publication "Principles of HIV Prevention" that is the result of fifteen years of research and presents seventeen (17) principles for HIV/AIDS intervention among drug users in the community. The reader may also want to review the "Best Practice Digest" for Drug Use and HIV vulnerability developed and supported by UNAIDS.(3)

Notes

1. A complete list of RAR materials, including the IDU- RAR, can be found in the public domain at the: www.rararchives.org.
2. See. www.nida.nih.gov/POHP
3. See. www.NIDA.org