Drugs and Drug Policy

While there have always been norms and customs around the use of drugs, explicit public policies--regulations, taxes, and prohibitions--designed to control drug abuse are a more recent phenomenon. Those policies sometimes have terrible side-effects: most prominently the development of criminal enterprises dealing in forbidden (or untaxed) drugs and the use of the profits of drug-dealing to finance insurgency and terrorism. Neither a drug-free world nor a world of free drugs seems to be on offer, leaving citizens and officials to face the age-old problem: What are we going to do about drugs? In Drugs and Drug Policy, three noted authorities survey the subject with exceptional clarity, in this addition to the acclaimed series, What Everyone Needs to Know?. They begin, by defining "drugs," examining how they work in the brain, discussing the nature of addiction, and exploring the damage they do to users. The book moves on to policy, answering questions about legalization, the role of criminal prohibitions, and the relative legal tolerance for alcohol and tobacco. The authors then dissect the illicit trade, from street dealers to the flow of money to the effect of catching kingpins, and show the precise nature of the relationship between drugs and crime. They examine treatment, both its effectiveness and the role of public policy, and discuss the beneficial effects of some abusable substances. Finally they move outward to look at the role of drugs in our foreign policy, their relationship to terrorism, and the ugly politics that surround the issue. Crisp, clear, and comprehensive, this is a handy and up-to-date overview of one of the most pressing topics in today's world. What Everyone Needs to Know? is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.

Autorentext

Mark Kleiman is Professor of Public Policy at UCLA and editor of The Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. He is Washington state's lead adviser on the legalization of marijuana, and was named by Politico Magazine as one of the Politico 50, a list of the key thinkers, doers and visionaries reshaping American politics. He is the author of When Brute Force Fails and Against Excess. Jonathan P. Caulkins is Stever Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Angela Hawken is Associate Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University.

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Acknowledgements Introduction 1 WHY IS "DRUG" THE NAME OF A PROBLEM? What is a drug? And why is drug use a problem? If abusable psychoactives can be used safely, where does the problem come in? What does it mean for a drug to be "toxic"? What is behavioral toxicity? Is it the same as intoxication? What is addiction? What is dependency? Is addiction a disease? Is it a "chronic, relapsing brain disorder"? Does that mean that drug addicts are not morally responsible for their drug-taking? Is the risk of addiction limited to those with an "addictive personality," or to those genetically predisposed to addiction? Which drug is most dangerous or most addictive? 2 WHY HAVE DRUG LAWS? What is drug abuse control policy? All those sound like good ideas. So what's the problem? Then wouldn't it be possible to have no coercive drug abuse control policies at all? And wouldn't such a "no coercion" policy have results better than the current mess? The damage from cocaine dealing and cocaine enforcement, and the crime committed by cocaine users to pay for their habit, is much greater than the damage from cocaine use. Doesn't that prove that prohibition does more harm than good? If the results of legalization are uncertain, why not just try it out, and go back to the current system if legalization doesn't work? Why would you expect newly-legal drugs to be much more widely used than the same drugs are now? After all, anyone who is really determined to get an illegal drug can do so. But wasn't alcohol prohibition in the United States a complete failure? But everyone knows that Prohibition led to a big increase in homicides. But didn't Holland and Portugal legalize drugs without any resulting disaster? But didn't Holland legalize cannabis? What's the difference between "legalization" and "decriminalization" or "depenalization"? How much of the increase in consumption after legalization would reflect increased problem use rather than increased casual and beneficial use? Can't the effects of marketing be reined in by regulations and taxes? What about legal availability without free trade? Couldn't that work? Couldn't you just let users go to physicians for their recreational drugs, and make it the doctor's business to try to prevent the development of problem use patterns? But isn't it impossible to make someone better off by coercing behavioral change? If people want drugs, doesn't depriving them of drugs make them worse off by definition? If someone chooses to harm himself with a drug, why is that any of anyone else's business? But wouldn't any increase in addiction to newly-legalized drugs be matched by a decrease in alcohol abuse? Isn't everyone with an addictive personality already addicted to something? Should we go back to Prohibition, then? Or legalize the other drugs? Does that mean that we're stuck with our current alcohol problem? Are higher taxes the only practical route to a smaller alcohol problem? If not alcohol, should we prohibit tobacco? 3 HOW DOES DRUG LAW ENFORCEMENT WORK? How is drug enforcement unlike enforcement against other crimes? Why are illegal drugs so expensive? Does enforcing prohibition more aggressively drive up prices still higher? Do high prices discourage drug use? Or will addicts always get their high? Are Higher Prices Good or Bad? Does reduced availability discourage drug use? Does catching drug kingpins make drugs less available? What are precursor chemicals and precursor controls, and how do they affect the price of drugs? What is money laundering and can we stop the flow of drug money? Are Prisons full of Non-Violent Drug Offenders? Do Long Sentences for Dealers Reduce Drug Use? Why have crack dealers been punished more harshly than powder-cocaine dealers? What is the difference between flagrant and discreet drug selling, and why does it matter? Does the existence of flagrant selling prove the police are corrupt? Can street drug markets be broken up? Can Prevention and Treatment Help Drug Law Enforcement? What are Designer Drugs? How does the internet complicate drug control? Should the police be able to confiscate drug dealers' assets? 4 WHAT PREVENTS DRUG ABUSE? What are risk factors for drug use? Protective factors? Do drug "pushers" hook unsuspecting children? Can we persuade children not to use drugs? Why do high expectations for prevention persist? Can we design prevention specifically to address the next drug epidemic? How do DARE, Life Skills, and the Good Behavior Game differ? What is the "Good Behavior Game"? Is Marijuana a "gateway drug"? Could there be a vaccine against drug abuse? What is secondary or indicated prevention? Does drug abuse spread like an epidemic disease? Should Drug Policy Vary Over the Epidemic Cycle? What's the point of workplace drug testing? 5 WHAT TREATS DRUG ABUSE? Do All Drug Abusers Need Treatment? What is "behavioral triage"? Do users have to "hit bottom" before they recover? What are the Twelve Steps? What is detoxification? Is Detoxification Treatment? What is methadone? Does methadone detox work? Does methadone maintenance work? Why is methadone controversial? Why not tighten up the rules in methadone clinics to require clients to abstain from drug abuse and diversion? What is buprenorphine? What is heroin maintenance and is it treatment? Does substitution therapy work for illicit drugs other than the opiates? How does treatment for stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine work? What is a Therapeutic Community? What is "contingency management"? Why is there a shortage of drug treatment? How do you treat a drug-…