NCJ Number
145852
Date Published
1993
Length
242 pages
Annotation
The two authors of this volume present their positions for and against legalizing currently illicit drugs.
Abstract
Arnold Trebach argues that legalization would reduce drug-related crime and make drug addiction a public health issue that requires a treatment rather than punitive response. He maintains that the obsessive pursuit of a "drug-free society" has filled the jails and prisons with petty drug offenders. Further, drug law enforcement has eroded personal privacy rights, wasted billions of dollars, and diverted resources and attention from other pressing social problems. James Inciardi, on the other hand, defends the current policy of outlawing debilitating drugs. He argues that legalization would increase the accessibility of debilitating drugs and undermine socially constructive behavior. Legalization would thus be socially and economically detrimental to American society. Inciardi says that we are winning the war against drugs with the current strategy, since illicit drugs are used by less than 8 percent of Americans, and these numbers are decreasing. He advises that what the drug-using population needs is not easily accessible drugs but rehabilitation in long-term residential treatment. 208 references and name and subject indexes