The 1996 Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA), which became effective in January 1998, is scheduled to expire in September 2001. This article provides an overview of what the MHPA intended to do and what it actually has accomplished. We summarize state legislature actions through the end of 2000 and report on their effects on employer-sponsored mental health coverage using a national survey fielded in 1999-2000. We then discuss possible amendments to the MHPA and reforms beyond full parity that might be considered.

Missile defense appears as a topic of intense international debate every ten years. This happened in the 1960s and 1970s prior to the signing of the ABM Treaty (Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty); in the 1980s with the Strategic Defense Initaitive (SDI); and in the 1990s, following the Gulf War, with the GPALS project (Global Protection Against Limited Strikes). Today the NMD project (National Missile Defense)-re-designated MD (Missile Defense)- with the arrival of the Bush Administration- might well, unlike its forerunners, be progressively deployed. It could re-map strategic relations among the main world players, especially after the September 11th terrorist attacks.

BACKGROUND: Cannabis policy continues to be controversial in North America, Europe and Australia.

AIMS: To inform this debate, we examine alternative legal regimes for controlling cannabis availability and use.

METHOD: We review evidence on the effects of cannabis depenalisation in the USA, Australia and The Netherlands. We update and extend our previous (MacCoun & Reuter, 1997) empirical comparison of cannabis prevalence statistics in the USA, The Netherlands and other European nations.

RESULTS: The available evidence indicates that depenalisation of the possession of small quantities of cannabis does not increase cannabis prevalence. The Dutch experience suggests that commercial promotion and sales may significantly increase cannabis prevalence.

CONCLUSIONS: Alternatives to an aggressively enforced cannabis prohibition are feasible and merit serious consideration. A model of depenalised possession and personal cultivation has many of the advantages of outright legalisation with few of its risks.