After Mr. Bennett and Mr. Bush: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Prospects for Drug Control (From Global Crime Connections: Dynamics and Control, P 72-90, 1993, Frank Pearce and Michael Woodiwiss, eds. -- See NCJ-164444)

• NCJ Number: 164447
• Author(s): N Dorn; N South
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: University of Toronto Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Canada
• Note: DCC.

Annotation

An assessment of the influence of American policies on national drug policies in Europe shows that this influence has rarely been beneficial and that it has exacerbated drug use and restricted the ability to offer more constructive, creative, and effective policies.

Abstract

This chapter also challenges the punitive reaction to drug traffickers as excessive and argues that this policy tends to contribute to the escalation of violence associated with such trafficking. This argument suggests that, faced with the retributive penalties promulgated by successive American and British governments, an economically rational person involved in trafficking is more likely to resort to violence to avoid capture. The authors construct the basic elements of a practical drug-control strategy that transcends both the romanticism of those who would decriminalize drug use and the "closet" racism of the hard-liners. The proposed strategy addresses three levels of the drug market: drug consumers, trafficking within and between countries, and the cultivation of drug plants within the developing world. 27 notes