UA College of Medicine Researcher Receives North American Studies Award from Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program

James Cunningham, PhD, to work with researchers in Mexico and Canada to evaluate impact of methamphetamine precursor chemical policies 

 Contact: Jean Spinelli, (520) 626-7301                                                                        Oct. 20, 2009

            James Cunningham, PhD, a social epidemiologist in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, has received the Canada-Mexico Joint Award in North American Studies from the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Dr. Cunningham will work with colleagues at the Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico and the University of Toronto and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada to evaluate the impacts of methamphetamine precursor chemical laws recently implemented by the two countries.

            Methamphetamine precursor chemicals include ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which illicit methamphetamine producers need to synthesize the drug. The U.S. began regulating access to these chemicals in the 1980s with the goal of limiting methamphetamine production. More recently, Canada and Mexico have implemented similar controls.

            Dr. Cunningham’s research has found significant health benefits associated with the U.S. precursor chemical regulations. That research also has helped introduce the use of advanced statistical and research design methods in the evaluation of drug policy. Commentaries in the leading drug research journal, Addiction, have described Dr. Cunningham’s work as “ground breaking.”  The Fulbright award will enable Dr. Cunningham and colleagues to draw upon that work for the study of Mexico’s and Canada’s precursor chemical controls. “The research is showing the actual effects of drug policies,” says Dr. Cunningham. “And we think it’s moving the discussion of drug control from speculation to a more scientific discourse.”

            The Fulbright award also will help Dr. Cunningham establish a North American collaborative of drug policy researchers. “We’re finding that health-related drug problems often follow shifts in international drug trafficking, and these shifts follow changes in drug policy,” he says. “The collaborative will be an important resource for assessing the links between policy, trafficking and health.”

            The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. For more information, visit the Web site fulbright.state.gov The Fulbright Scholar Program is administered by CIES, a division of the Institute of International Education.