This meticulously researched study represents the first effort to provide a nonpartisan and objective analysis of how the United States should approach the drug legalization question. It surveys what is known about the effects of different drug policies in Western Europe and what happened when cocaine and heroin were legal in the US a century ago. The book shows that legalization involves different tradeoffs between health and crime and the interests of the inner city minority communities and the middle class. The book explains why it is so difficult to accomplish substantial reform of drug policy.
Author(s): Robert J. MacCoun, Peter Reuter
Edition: 1
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 496
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Figures......Page 15
Tables......Page 16
Acknowledgments......Page 17
PART I: OVERVIEW......Page 19
PART II: THE ARGUMENTS......Page 21
PART III: THE EVIDENCE......Page 23
Other vices......Page 24
History......Page 25
Western Europe......Page 26
Cocaine or heroin adult legal market......Page 28
Weighing the alternatives......Page 29
Prospects for change......Page 31
Occasional drug use......Page 33
Frequent use......Page 35
DRUG-RELATED PROBLEMS......Page 39
Stringency......Page 42
Divisiveness......Page 45
Intrusiveness......Page 46
The punitive cycle......Page 47
How successful has enforcement been?......Page 48
DEMAND SIDE PROGRAMS......Page 50
Treatment......Page 51
Prevention......Page 53
CONCLUSION......Page 56
3 The Debate......Page 57
ELITE OPINION......Page 60
Shifts in advocacy and emphasis......Page 62
Shifts in the content of the debate......Page 64
PUBLIC OPINION......Page 66
WHY HAVE LEGALIZERS HAD SO LITTLE IMPACT?......Page 68
CONCLUSION......Page 72
4 Philosophical Underpinnings......Page 73
CONSEQUENTIALIST VS. DEONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS......Page 74
John Stuart Mill......Page 76
Joel Feinberg......Page 77
Drug laws......Page 78
Legal paternalism......Page 80
Legal moralism......Page 83
The benefits of drug use......Page 88
IMPLICATIONS......Page 89
5 How Does Prohibition Affect Drug Use?......Page 90
THE ECONOMICS OF DRUG DEMAND......Page 94
DETERRENCE: THE FEAR OF LEGAL SANCTIONS......Page 96
Effects of penalties and their enforcement on crime rates......Page 97
Perceptual deterrence research......Page 98
Limited rationality and deterrence......Page 102
INFORMAL SELF AND SOCIAL CONTROLS......Page 104
Morality and legitimacy......Page 105
“Forbidden fruit” effects......Page 107
Informal social controls......Page 108
SUMMARY OF MECHANISMS......Page 110
Effects of depenalization on drug use......Page 112
Effects of legalization on drug use......Page 116
6 How Does Prohibition Affect Drug Harms?......Page 119
A TAXONOMY OF DRUG-RELATED HARMS......Page 120
The dimensions of drug-related harm......Page 123
Ubiquity of drug selling in inner-city communities......Page 130
Corruption......Page 135
Violence and other crime......Page 139
Health consequences......Page 143
CONCLUSIONS......Page 145
7 Other Vices: Prostitution and Gambling......Page 146
Gambling as behavior......Page 147
History of control......Page 150
The current regime......Page 154
Assessing the current regime......Page 158
Conclusion......Page 160
PROSTITUTION......Page 161
Characterizing the prostitution problem......Page 162
History and regulation......Page 163
Reform models......Page 168
Attitudes and politics......Page 169
An assessment......Page 171
8 Other Substances: Alcohol and Cigarettes......Page 174
Prohibition......Page 175
Repeal......Page 179
Assessment......Page 181
Current policy......Page 184
CIGARETTES......Page 187
Cigarette consumption and its problems......Page 189
Policy......Page 190
Smoking promotion and politics......Page 194
Smoking and the future......Page 197
CONCLUSION......Page 199
9 U.S. Experience with Legal Cocaine and Heroin......Page 201
COCAINE......Page 202
The medical phase......Page 203
Patent medicine and the promotion of cocaine......Page 206
Recreational use......Page 209
Legal but unrespectable......Page 210
Prevalence and problems......Page 212
Responses......Page 213
THE OPIATES......Page 214
Controls......Page 217
CONCLUSIONS......Page 220
10 Learning from European Experiences......Page 223
CHARACTERIZING DRUG POLICY......Page 225
ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK......Page 228
LAWS AND THEIR ENFORCEMENT......Page 231
Drug seizures......Page 232
Arrests and imprisonment......Page 236
THE PREVALENCE OF DRUG USE......Page 239
Heroin addiction......Page 243
Interpreting the prevalence estimates......Page 247
ITALY’S “NATURAL EXPERIMENT” WITH DEPENALIZATION......Page 248
A brief history......Page 249
Effects of legal change on drug problems......Page 251
CONCLUSIONS......Page 254
11 Cannabis Policies in The Netherlands......Page 256
CHARACTERIZING DUTCH CANNABIS POLICY......Page 257
History......Page 261
The problems of regulation when a drug is only de facto legal......Page 268
OUTCOMES......Page 269
Prevalence of cannabis use in the Netherlands, United States, Denmark, and Germany......Page 270
Trends in the prevalence of cannabis use......Page 274
Other effects......Page 279
INTERPRETING THE DUTCH EXPERIENCE AND OTHER ANALOGIES......Page 281
HIV and drug use......Page 283
Needle exchange......Page 286
Methadone treatment......Page 287
EVALUATING THE HARM REDUCTION APPROACH: THE NETHERLANDS......Page 290
Evaluating the success of Dutch drug policy......Page 292
SWISS EXPERIMENTATION......Page 296
Background......Page 297
Zones of tolerance: the Platzspitz......Page 299
The British experience......Page 304
The Swiss heroin maintenance trials......Page 306
The values that inform drug policy......Page 315
INTERPRETING THE ANALOGIES......Page 318
Relaxations......Page 321
Tightenings......Page 325
Other relevant analogies......Page 327
THE SPECTRUM OF REGIMES......Page 328
Prohibition regimes......Page 329
Prescription regimes......Page 331
Regulatory regimes......Page 332
OUTCOMES: TOTAL HARM AND ITS COMPONENTS......Page 335
The identification of harms (and benefits)......Page 337
Weighing the harms......Page 339
Burdens and standards of proof......Page 341
SUMMARY PROPOSITIONS......Page 343
B. Increases in legal access to a drug (partial or total legalization)......Page 344
PROJECTIONS FOR COCAINE AND HEROIN......Page 346
Regulated adult market for cocaine and heroin......Page 349
Depenalization of cocaine and/or heroin......Page 355
Heroin maintenance regime......Page 357
CANNABIS: BACKGROUND......Page 359
Current usage patterns and policy......Page 360
The gateway mechanism......Page 363
Health consequences of cannabis......Page 369
Cannabis dependence......Page 371
THE BASIS FOR CONTINUED CANNABIS PROHIBITION......Page 374
Can cannabis prohibition be reconciled with legal alcohol and tobacco?......Page 375
Cannabis depenalization......Page 376
Cannabis legalization......Page 380
The Alaska model......Page 382
APPENDIX......Page 384
15 Obstacles to Moving Beyond the Drug War......Page 389
UNCERTAINTY AND THE LEGALIZATION DEBATE......Page 390
Marijuana reform......Page 393
Medical marijuana......Page 396
Needle exchange......Page 398
Heroin maintenance......Page 400
Harm reduction and use reduction......Page 403
Does harm reduction send the wrong message?......Page 407
Quantity reduction as a middle ground......Page 413
Psychological foundations of the strict allegiance to prevalence reduction......Page 415
HOW FIRM IS THE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE?......Page 419
CAN AMERICA TREAT AND PREVENT ITS WAY OUT OF DRUG PROBLEMS?......Page 422
ON DOING LESS: DRUG POLICY IN MODERATION AND SOME NONZERO TOLERANCE......Page 426
Bibliography......Page 428
Figure 10.6......Page 474
Figure 12.1......Page 475
Figure 12.4......Page 476
Author/Name Index......Page 477
Subject Index......Page 488
