Friday, September 6, 2013

Dr. Myrstol and Dr. Wood interviewed for Alaska Dispatch article on "Alaska's failed war on booze"

Dr. Brad Myrstol, Justice faculty and director of the Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center, and Dr. Darryl Wood, Justice affiliate faculty, Washington State University Vancouver, were interviewed for the Alaska Dispatch article by Craig Medred, "Perils of Prohibition: Alaska's failed war on booze," posted online on September 4.

Dr. Myrstol discussed his research on "The Alcohol-Related Workload of Patrol Officers" which examined police perceptions of time-spent on alcohol-related incidents and actual time spent on those incidents.  Dr. Wood described his studies on on alcohol prohibitions in rural Alaska and their outcomes, and noted that there was not a long enough follow-up period on the alcohol interdiction project which he studied to determine if it had had an effect.

Both faculty members point out that other factors, not just alcohol, need to be examined when researching the problems in rural areas of Alaska.

Research by Dr. Myrstol and Dr. Wood on the issue of alcohol includes:

Drug and Alcohol-Related Workload of Anchorage Patrol Officers: Results From Two Patrol Officer Surveys by Brad A. Myrstol, N. E. Schafer, and Matthew J. Giblin (2003).
The Police Alcohol-Related Services Study (PASS): A Study of the Intersection of Public Alcohol Use and Routine Police Patrol by Brad A. Myrstol and Robert H. Langworthy (2004).
Police Alcohol-Related Services Study (PASS), Phase II: A Description of the Beliefs, Perceptions and Attitudes of Anchorage Police Department Employees by Brad A. Myrstol and Robert H. Langworthy (2005).
"Measures of Outcomes Associated With Alcohol Abuse in Alaska" by Darryl S. Wood, Alaska Justice Forum 21(1) (Spring 2004).
"Local Alcohol Prohibition, Police Presence and Serious Injury in Isolated Alaska Native Villages" By Darryl S. Wood and Paul J. Gruenewald, Addiction 101: 393-403 (Mar 2006). (Contact Dr. Wood for a copy of the report - darrylwood@vancouver.wsu.edu)
Evaluation of the Rural Alaska Alcohol Interdiction, Investigation, and Prosecution Program by Michael Shively, Darryl Wood,  Lauren Olsho, William Rhodes, and Meg Chapman (2009).