Drug war heresies : learning from other vices, times, and places / Robert J. MacCoun, Peter Reuter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacCoun, Robert J., author.

Reuter, Peter, 1944- author.

Series:

RAND studies in policy analysis.

RAND studies in policy analysis

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug legalization--United States.

Drug legalization.

Drug control--United States.

Drug control.

Drug control--Cross-cultural studies.

Drug abuse--Government policy--United States.

Drug abuse.

Drug abuse--Government policy--Cross-cultural studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 479 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book provides the first multidisciplinary and nonpartisan analysis of how the United States should decide on the legal status of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. It draws on data about the experiences of Western European nations with less punitive drug policies as well as new analyses of America's experience with legal cocaine and heroin a century ago, and of America's efforts to regulate gambling, prostitution, alcohol and cigarettes. It offers projections on the likely consequences of a number of different legalization regimes and shows that the choice about how to regulate drugs involves complicated tradeoffs among goals and conflict among social groups. The book presents a sophisticated discussion of how society should deal with the uncertainty about the consequences of legal change. Finally, it explains, in terms of individual attitudes toward risk, why it is so difficult to accomplish substantial reform of drug policy in America.

Contents:

1. Preface and overview

2. Drug prohibition : American style

3. The debate

4. Philosophical underpinnings

5. How does prohibition affect drug use

6. How does prohibition affect drug harms

7. Other vices : prostitution and gambling

8. Other substances : alcohol and cigarettes

9. U.S. experience with legal cocaine and heroin

10. Learning from European experiences

11. Cannabis policies in The Netherlands

12. Harm reduction in Europe

13. Summary of the evidence and a framework for assessment

14. Projecting the consequences of alternative regimes

15. Obstacles to moving beyond the drug war.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 410-455) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-11348-2

1-280-15315-6

0-511-11653-5

0-511-01792-8

0-511-15485-2

0-511-32345-X

0-511-75427-2

0-511-05371-1

OCLC:

475915360