Addiction Lives: Wayne Hall [Annotated Bibliography]

Key reading from Wayne Hall’s body of work, annotated by the author.

Mattick RP, Hall W. Are detoxification programmes effective? Lancet 1996; 347: 97-100.

In this paper, we reviewed evidence on the impact of detoxification on drug use and made very clear that detoxification is not a treatment for drug dependence but a prelude to it.

Strang J, Darke S, Hall W, Farrell M, Ali R. Heroin overdose: The case for take-home naloxone – home based supplies of naloxone would save lives. British Medical Journal 1996; 312: 1435-6.

This paper made the case for take away naloxone distribution to prevent opioid overdose deaths. Just under 20 years later this is now standard policy in most developed countries, including the USA.

Hall W, Solowij N. Adverse effects of cannabis. Lancet 1998; 352: 1611-6.

This was an invited paper on the adverse effects of cannabis prompted by work undertaken for WHO. It has been widely cited as was a 2008 update also published in the Lancet.

Ward,J. Hall W, Mattick RP. Role of maintenance treatment in opioid dependence. Lancet 1999; 353: 221-6.

This paper reviewed the evidence on the effectiveness of maintenance treatment for opioid dependence and explained how to deliver this treatment safely and effectively. It was based on a well-received book on methadone treatment written by Ward, Mattick and Hall.

Andrews G, Henderson S, Hall W. Prevalence, comorbidity, disability and service utilisation – overview of the Australian National Mental Health Survey. British Journal of Psychiatry 2001; 178: 145-53.

This paper reported the first survey of the mental health of Australians using a computerised diagnostic interview, a method that has become standard. A second survey was completed in 2007.

Darke S, Hall W. Heroin overdose: research and evidence-based intervention. Journal of Urban Health-Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 2003; 80: 189-200.

This paper reviewed the epidemiology of opioid overdose and identified effective and cost-effective ways of reducing these deaths.

Gartner CE, Hall WD, Vos T, Bertram MY, Wallace AL, Lim SS. Assessment of Swedish snus for tobacco harm reduction: an epidemiological modelling study. Lancet 2007; 369: 2010-4.

This first estimate of years of healthy life smokers gained by quitting or using smokeless tobacco attracted international interest in policies to reduce the health burden of smoking.

Hall WD, Gartner CE, Carter, A. The genetics of nicotine addiction liability: ethical and social policy implications. Addiction 2008; 103: 350-9.

A comprehensive analysis of ethical and policy implications of genetic research on nicotine dependence, including screening for genetic susceptibility to nicotine and matching cessation methods with smokers trying to quit.

Hall W. (2010). What are the policy lessons of National Alcohol Prohibition in the United States, 1920-1933? Addiction, 105, 1164-1173.

This paper questioned the conventional wisdom about the effects of national alcohol prohibition in showing that it probably substantially reduced alcohol consumption in the USA, at the cost of creating a large alcohol black market with its attendant crime and violence.

Hall W, Pacula R. Cannabis use and dependence: public health and public policy. Reissue of 1st (2003) ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2010.

This book, coauthored with a leading RAND drug policy researcher, summarised international research on adverse health effects, cost and effectiveness of policies to prevent cannabis use or ameliorate its adverse effects. It continues to be cited in contemporary US policy debates about cannabis legalisation.

Carter A, Hall W. Addiction neuroethics: the promises and perils of neuroscience research on addiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012.

This book summarised analyses of the policy and ethical implications of genetic and neuroscience research on addiction. It earned a national research award for Adrian Carter in 2012.

Degenhardt L, Hall W. Extent of illicit drug use and dependence, and their contribution to the global burden of disease. Lancet 2012; 379: 55-70.

This paper summarised global patterns of illicit drug use and harms arising from such use. It was first in a series of three articles  on drug policy for the Lancet.

Hall W, Prichard J, Kirkbride P, Bruno R, Thai PK, Gartner C, Lai FY, Ort C, Mueller JF. An analysis of ethical issues in using wastewater analysis to monitor illicit drug use. Addiction 2012; 107: 1767-73.

This paper introduced waste water analysis to the addictions field and discussed technical and ethical issues that may arise in its use in monitoring illicit drug use in the population.

Hall W, Gartner C. Should Australia reconsider its ban on the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems? Lancet Respiratory Medicine 2014; 2: 602-4.

This invited article discussed the ethical issues raised by Australian policies that ban the sale of e-cigarettes and proposed ways in which these products could be sold to minimise their promotion to non-smoking young people.

Hall W. What has research over the past two decades revealed about the adverse health effects of recreational cannabis use? Addiction 2015; 110: 19-35.

This paper reviewed how the evidence on the adverse health effects of cannabis has changed in the 20 years since I first reviewed the literature. It generated enormous media interest, most of it ill-informed

Hall W, Carter A, Forlini C. The brain disease model of addiction: is it supported by the evidence and has it delivered on its promises? Lancet Psychiatry 2015; 2: 105-10.

This paper evaluated the evidence for and claims made by advocates of the brain disease model of addiction. It prompted a reply from the Directors of the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Hall W, Gartner C, Forlini C. Ethical issues raised by a ban on the sale of electronic nicotine devices. Addiction 2015; 110: 1061-7.

This paper analysed the ethical issues raised by the Australian policy of banning the sale of electronic nicotine devices, a policy advocated by leading public health figures in the USA.

Hall, W., Weier, M. Assessing the public health impacts of legalizing recreational cannabis use in the USA. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics 2015; 97: 607-15.

This paper reviewed the literature on the effects of legalising medical uses of cannabis in the USA on adolescent and adult use and speculated about the likely health effects of legalising the recreational use of cannabis by adults.

Hall W, Patton G, Stockings E, Weier M, Lynskey M, Morley K, Degenhardt L. Why young people’s substance use matters for global health. Lancet Psychiatry 2016; 3: 265-79.

This paper was one of a series of three papers on adolescent substance use and mental health. It summarised evidence on substance use as a major contributor to poor mental health and disease burden among adolescents and young adults. The other two articles summarised the epidemiology of substance use and substance use disorders in young people and reviewed evidence on the effectiveness of preventive and treatment interventions.

Hall W, Renström M, Poznyak V, editors. The health and social effects of nonmedical cannabis use. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016.

This was a major review of the evidence on the adverse health effects of nonmedical cannabis use undertaken for WHO. I led the production of a document summarising the findings of a large number of commissioned literature reviews on specific adverse health effects and the outcome of an expert meeting convened to consider the papers and arrive at a consensus view on the health effects.  

The opinions expressed in this commentary reflect the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the Society for the Study of Addiction.