This issue brief is part of a continuing series of policy papers published by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives program, housed at AcademyHealth, and the National Academy for State Health Policy on the state health policy implications of ERISA's preemption clause.1 The purpose of the brief is to explore the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2004 decision that ERISA preempt...

INTRODUCTION The National Health Policy (NHP), released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, marks the culmination of a rather tortuous process. It has reportedly been with the drafting board for many years. One would have assumed that such a process would involve wide ranging discussions at all levels. Unfortunately, besides a small group in the Central Health Ministry, almost everyon...

Amendments to Canada’s drug-impaired driving laws were implemented in 2008 to assist police in the detection of drug-impaired drivers. A key feature of these amendments was the introduction of the Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) program. This brief provides information about the DEC program, its role in the enforcement of drug-impaired driving, and some of the issues that require atten...

In July 2008, revisions to the Criminal Code of Canada were implemented that provided police with the tools and powers to enhance the enforcement of laws against drug-impaired driving. Police were given the authority to demand a suspected drug-impaired driver submit to a Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) and a drug influence evaluation by a Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE), and to provide...