NCJ Number
126162
Date Published
1990
Length
321 pages
Annotation
This analysis of current United States government policy regarding drugs argues that the efforts to reduce the supply of drugs are futile, based on questionable views regarding the causes of addiction and need replacement by policies that acknowledge that drug taking of some kind is the cultural norm, rather than an aberration, that responds to universal human needs.
Abstract
Efforts at interdiction, drug and property seizures, and other law enforcement efforts have been costly and ineffective. Their result has been death, destruction, and a drug supply network that will use every means in its disposal to make its product available to a willing market. However, the public, politicians, judges, and leading intellectuals increasingly believe that the "war" on drugs is unwinnable and should not be fought. Therefore, policies regarding drugs need a fundamental reassessment. The United States should stop viewing drug takers as victims and should instead view them as individuals exercising personal liberty in the pursuit of fundamental psychic needs. Such a view would lead to a network of controls that recognize the powerful role of personal responsibility and individual human behavior. Tables; figures; index; appended chronology of actions to address drugs since 1914; and lists of books, articles, reports, and other documents.