NCJ Number
145171
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1993) Pages: 215-230
Date Published
1993
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article critiques four types of drug enforcement strategies, three that focus on supply reduction and one that focuses on demand reduction.
Abstract
The critique of three conventional approaches to drug supply reduction focuses on crop eradication in source countries, interdiction in the transport of illegal drugs, and the arrest and prosecution of high-level drug dealers. Some problems with crop eradication are displacement and replacement, collateral damage to other crops, and its failure to address synthetically manufactured drugs. Both interdiction and the focus on high-level drug dealers aim to reduce the supply of drugs available to users and thus increase drug prices. Interdiction may achieve this, but the absence of credible data makes strategy assessment unreliable. Regarding the targeting of high-level drug dealers, critics question the assumption that drug trafficking is primarily conducted by highly centralized organizations with key players. The fourth drug-enforcement strategy criticized by the author is the targeting of low- level ("street") dealers and users, so that police deter the user-seller transaction. He examines two models of low-level enforcement: one that focuses on the arrest of heavy users and another that targets novice drug buyers. He advises that although both models contribute to greater uncertainty in the drug market, low-level enforcement may foster the establishment of drug monopolies by removing weak players and may overburden the criminal justice system with minor offenders. 14 notes and 35 references