Aaron Carroll in the New York Times: Governing with Evidence When the Moment Demands It
AcademyHealth CEO Aaron Carroll writes in the New York Times about the rescheduling of marijuana out of the most restrictive drug category. The essay highlights how we can learn and adapt in the face of complex policy challenges.
All policy decisions have tradeoffs— and a lot of times the policy changes move faster than the evidence and without considering unintended consequences. Our CEO Aaron Carroll argues in the New York Times Opinion that we cannot manage what we don’t measure and that science alone doesn’t dictate individual behavior or policy but instead identifies areas of concern that could be addressed. Moving marijuana out of the most restrictive category will make it easier to generate evidence to create new policies in light of this change.
“The real lesson here isn’t even about cannabis. It’s about our capacity to learn and adapt. We can celebrate the significant reduction in incarceration while honestly confronting new challenges in vulnerable populations,” he writes.
The question isn’t whether we’ll face more complex policy challenges in the years ahead. The question is whether we’ll be capable of governing with evidence when those moments demand it.