Drug War Heresies: Learning from Other Vices, Times, and Places

ISBN-13: 9780521799973 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 496 str.

Robert J. Maccoun; Peter Reuter; Jr. Wolf

Opis

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.

Recenzje

'This book is without doubt the most scholarly and significant contribution to what has become a passionate but circular debate … overall this is an experts' expert book and it is likely to become the classic text on drug policy reform.' British Medical Journal

Spis treści

1. Preface and overview; 2. Drug prohibition: American style; 3. The debate; 4. Philosophical underpinnings; 5. How does prohibition affect drug use?; 6. How does prohibition affect drug harms?; 7. Other vices: prostitution and gambling; 8. Other substances: alcohol and cigarettes; 9. US experience with legal cocaine and heroin; 10. Learning from European experiences; 11. Cannabis policies in the Netherlands; 12. Harm reduction in Europe; 13. Summary of the evidence and a framework for assessment; 14. Projecting the consequences of alternative regimes; 15. Obstacles to moving beyond the drug war.