LawAtlas Success Stories:
  • Kelly Thompson, Esq.
    Health Policy Expert
  • Laura Thomas, MPH, MPP
    Deputy State Director, California, of the Drug Policy Alliance
  • Alessandra Ross, MPH
    Injection Drug Use Specialist
  • Bryce Pardo, PhD
    Associate Director, Drug Policy Research Center; Policy Researcher
  • Benjamin Mason Meier, JD, LLM, PhD
    Professor of global health policy in the Dept. of Public Policy and the Dept. of Health Policy and Mgmt. at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
  • Darrell Klein, JD
    Deputy Director of Public Health Nebraska DHHS at State of Nebraska
  • Manel Kappagoda, JD, MPH
    Program Director and Senior Staff Attorney ChangeLab Solutions Oakland, CA
  • Emalie Huriaux, MPH
    Integration, Hepatitis C, and Drug User Health Program Manager for the Washington State Department of Health
  • Rachel Hulkower, JD, MSPH
    Public Health Analyst at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Micah Berman, JD
    Associate professor of public health and law at The Ohio State University's College of Public Health and Michael E. Moritz College of Law
  • Maya Doe-Simkins, MPH
    Public health educator, researcher and consultant
  • Nabarun Dasgupta, MPH, PhD
    Epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
    • LawAtlas Success Stories:

    User Success Stories

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    Deputy State Director, California, of the Drug Policy Alliance
    "Being able to show California legislators where California stands in relation to other states can be a useful motivator because it puts our policy proposals in context."

    Laura’s story:

    I’m an advocate who primarily works at the state level, and one of the things that state legislators are always interested in — good and bad — is how they compare to others states. Being able to show California legislators where California stands in relation to other states can be a useful motivator because it puts our policy proposals in context.

    We have also found that policy surveillance is helpful in adding some nuance to the conversation. Being able to point to a number of different policy options lets us show that there is a range of approaches for handling an issue. It’s great to be able to say to a person making policy decisions, “These do not all need to be in place, but this is a complete list of approaches.”

    Through policy surveillance, we can begin to see momentum in policy change and identify areas where there may be more work that needs to be done. We can ask, is this something that we should be working on to build momentum, or does it feel like that’s happening on its own without us? If we have scarce resources, it helps us identify where we may want to allocate them.

    One of the things that I appreciate about it is that I trust the people behind it. I trust that the researchers who have created the data are looking at these issues with a level of understanding — understanding which components of a policy approach are worth pulling out and analyzing separately instead of lumping together.

    Laura Thomas is the Deputy State Director for California for the Drug Policy Alliance.