NCJ Number
162168
Date Published
1988
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This paper summarizes arguments for and against legalizing drugs.
Abstract
Concern and frustration over the continuing national drug problem have generated a revival of calls to eliminate some or all of the Federal and State restrictions on selected drugs subject to widespread abuse. Proponents of such a course may take widely differing approaches, but they have in common the notion that the corrupting effects of the illegal drug industry are so threatening to society, in the United States as well as in the principal producing and transiting countries, that something must be done to take the profit out of drugs. Opponents hold generally that legalization would lead to increased use accompanied by a further erosion of the values upon which the strength of the Nation depends. Although the term "legalization" is used in many ways, those who recommend it as a way of taking the profit out of drug trafficking are assumed to mean over-the-counter distribution. Schemes for making a drug such as heroin legally available only to persons already addicted, in controlled, perhaps government-run maintenance programs, constitute a separate issue, which is not specifically addressed in this report. Footnotes