Confronting Drug Policy
Confronting Drug Policy
Gerald M. Oppenheimer, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
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As the financial and social costs of the war on drugs become increasingly clear, there has been renewed debate about drug control in American society. Why, for instance, do the current policies lump less dangerous drugs with more dangerous ones in making possession of any illegal drug a criminal offense? And why does the United States government spend more on law enforcement to repress drug sales than on treatment for individuals who are addicted to drugs? One alternative to the current prohibitionist policies is decriminalisation - a proposal that has drawn both supporters and critics from across the political spectrum. In its most radical form, decriminalisation would entail legalising all drugs; but it could also mean ending the prosecution of small-scale offenses, or treating drug use as a medical, as opposed to a criminal, problem. In this volume, leading analysts of drug use and drug policy evaluate the prospects for decriminalisation as well as its potential impact on public policy, law, medicine, society, and the individual.
- An important contribution to the debate about how to control the drug problem
- Sets out clearly the case for and against drug decriminalisation
- Ronald Bayer is a well-respected name in the field, well-known for his books on health issues and AIDS
Product details
December 1993Hardback
9780521441155
379 pages
237 × 155 × 22 mm
0.614kg
2 b/w illus. 33 tables
Unavailable - out of print June 1995
Table of Contents
- Foreword Samuel L. Milbank and Daniel M. Fox
- 1. Introduction: the great drug policy debate - what means this thing called decriminalisation? Ronald Bayer
- 2. The social demography of drug use Denise B. Kandel
- 3. Drug policy: striking the right balance Avram Goldstein and Harold Kalant
- 4. Drug legalization and the minority poor William Kornblum
- 5. Social behaviour, public policy, and non-harmful drug use Charles Winick
- 6. From prohibition to regulation: lessons from alcohol policy for drug policy Harry G. Levine and Craig Reinarman
- 7. To build a bridge: the use of foreign models by domestic critics of U.S. drug policy Gerald M. Oppenheimer
- 8. Drugs, the criminal law, and the administration of justice Mark H. Moore
- 9. Compulsory treatment for drug-dependant persons: justifications for a public health approach to drug dependency Lawrence O. Gostin
- 10. Helping women helping children: drug policy and future generations Patricia A. King
- 11. Medicalization of psychoactive substance use and the doctor-patient relationship Robert J. Levine
- 12. Legalizing drugs: lessons from (and about) economics Kenneth E. Warner
- Notes on contributors
- Index.
