Social Behavior, Public Policy, and Nonharmful Drug Use (From Confronting Drug Policy: Illicit Drugs in a Free Society, P 136- 159, 1993, Ronald Bayer and Gerald M. Oppenheimer, eds. - See NCJ- 159507)

• NCJ Number: 159512
• Author(s): C Winik
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article uses data derived from previous studies of various aspects of drug use to test the hypothesis that drug users can take psychoactive drugs without incurring significant losses in other areas of their lives.

Abstract

These other studies focused on people's ability to work when using drugs, characteristics of users in and out of prison or treatment, and the availability of information about upper-income drug abusers. Despite a body of research indicating that drug users can work and fulfill their other social obligations, the Federal Government has consistently been opposed to any policy that does not advocate abstinence as the standard. Any analysis of the functioning of drug users must consider the realities of the AIDS epidemic, and the high percentage of intravenous drug users who are infected with the HIV virus. The author concludes that many drug users can consume even the most addictive substances without losing their ability to function in society; many of the negative consequences of drug use can be traced to preexisting problems, or the interaction between users' disadvantaged status and current regulatory policies. Nonetheless, the data demonstrate that the consumption of psychoactive drugs does hold some dangers for users. 86 references