The Search for Rational Drug Control

ISBN-13: 9780521558822 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 240 str.

Franklin E. Zimring; Gordon Hawkins

Opis

This book presents a comprehensive examination of the drug control policy process in the United States. How are policy choices identified, debated and selected? How are the consequences of governmental policy measured and evaluated? How, if at all, do we learn from our mistakes? Zimring and Hawkins present different ways of understanding American drug policy and provide a foundation for an improved policy process. They argue that protection of children and youth should shape policy toward illicit crime, with attention to the fact that youth protection objectives may limit the effectiveness of some drug controls.

Recenzje

"This book provides a good, rational evaluation of the current drug policy in the United States. The authors logically and scientifically assess the current drug policy, concluding that it is based more on fear and unknowns than on any research or rational processes....Overall, the book is well-written. The chapters are well-organized and demonstrate excellent scholarship and research in the process of comprehensive policy evaluation. They proide good criteria for comparison, and break the drug problem into specific issues rather than one global issue. As its title suggests, this book would be seminal to anyone seriously interested in rational drug control." International Journal of Contemporary Sociology

Spis treści

Preface; Part I. The Drug Problem: Introduction; 1. Ideology and policy - a look at the national drug control strategy; 2. What is a drug? and other basic issues; 3. Prohibitions and the lessons of history; 4. The wrong question: critical notes on the decriminalization debate; Part II. The Drug Control Policy Process: Introduction; 5. The universal proposition - children and drug control policy; 6. Drug control policy and street crime; 7. The federal role in a national drug strategy; 8. Memorandum to a new drug czar; Appendix; References.