Real Opposition, Real Alternatives: Reducing the Harms of Drug Use and Drug Policy (From Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice, P 345-366, 1997, Craig Reinarman and Harry G Levine, eds. - See NCJ-170648)

• NCJ Number: 170665
• Author(s): C Reinarman; H G Levine
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: University of California Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

Failures and excesses stemming from the expansion of punitive prohibition in the context of the "crack scare" have given rise to formidable opponents who point out the true costs of punitive prohibition and articulate alternative policies.

Abstract

Drug policy reformers have been successful enough to prompt the Drug Enforcement Administration to hire a panel of experts to prepare a pamphlet on drug legalization. Additionally, many studies of drug policy reform have been published in recent years. Developing opposition to punitive prohibition is creating new alternatives designed to reduce drug-related harm more effectively and humanely than is possible under punitive prohibition. Opponents of punitive prohibition cut across the political spectrum and include such organizations as the American Bar Association, the American Public Health Association, and the American Medical Association. Many criminal justice professionals who confront drug offenders on a daily basis also oppose current drug policies. Social injustices, along with rising AIDS deaths due to needle sharing, have led more black Americans to abandon their traditional support for punitive prohibition. Grassroots activists are fighting the consequences of punitive prohibition on several fronts, including medical use of marijuana and needle exchange programs. Principles of drug harm reduction are discussed in terms of such practices as methadone treatment; AIDS prevention education; and referrals to treatment, health, and social service agencies. Drug harm reduction is viewed as a philosophy of dealing with drug problems rather than as a precise set of activities. Because punitive prohibition is rooted in the assumptions that all illicit drugs are inherently dangerous and that most if not all illicit drug users are or will likely become abusers or addicts, the authors conclude harm reduction policies are needed that build on informal social controls and approach drug users as people who are full citizens and who need to receive information about risks of drugs they use. 64 references and 11 notes