Rethinking Drug Laws

Rethinking Drug Laws PDF Author: Toby Seddon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192846523
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Drugs are pervasive in our everyday lives across cultures around the world. At the same time, they present one of the thorniest problems of twenty-first century policy, connected with concerns about crime, security, and public health. The global prohibition system, established a century ago, is widely seen to be failing and over the last decade alternative approaches have started to proliferate in some regions of the world, notably the Americas. Rethinking Drug Laws presents a radical intellectual reappraisal of how the international drug control system works, where it came from, and the possibilities for alternative futures. Drawing on an innovative interdisciplinary approach, the book develops new theoretical and conceptual tools for understanding how drug control functions, presents original archival research on the origins of drug prohibition, and explains ways that we can develop a better 'politics of drugs' that can reanimate drug law reform. Central to the book is the claim that to move beyond existing ways of seeing the global drug problem, we need to escape Western-centric thinking. In the Asian Century, will it be China that becomes the most significant player in shaping the future of drug policy and drug control?

Rethinking Drug Laws

Rethinking Drug Laws PDF Author: Toby Seddon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192846523
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
Drugs are pervasive in our everyday lives across cultures around the world. At the same time, they present one of the thorniest problems of twenty-first century policy, connected with concerns about crime, security, and public health. The global prohibition system, established a century ago, is widely seen to be failing and over the last decade alternative approaches have started to proliferate in some regions of the world, notably the Americas. Rethinking Drug Laws presents a radical intellectual reappraisal of how the international drug control system works, where it came from, and the possibilities for alternative futures. Drawing on an innovative interdisciplinary approach, the book develops new theoretical and conceptual tools for understanding how drug control functions, presents original archival research on the origins of drug prohibition, and explains ways that we can develop a better 'politics of drugs' that can reanimate drug law reform. Central to the book is the claim that to move beyond existing ways of seeing the global drug problem, we need to escape Western-centric thinking. In the Asian Century, will it be China that becomes the most significant player in shaping the future of drug policy and drug control?

The Drug Legalization Debate

The Drug Legalization Debate PDF Author: James A. Inciardi
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 0761906908
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
This completely revised and updated secong edition of the Drug Legalization Debate continues to address, and offer alternatives to, the major issues.

Our Right to Drugs

Our Right to Drugs PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815603337
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
In Our Right to Drugs, Szasz shows how the present drug war started at the beginning of this century, when the US government first assumed the task of protecting people from patent medicines. By the end of World War I the free market in drugs was but a dim memory. Instead of dwelling on the familiar impracticality and unfairness of drug laws, Szasz demonstrates the deleterious effects of prescription laws, which place people under lifelong medical supervision. The result is that most Americans today prefer a coercive and corrupt command drug economy to a free market in drugs.

The Drug Legalization Debate

The Drug Legalization Debate PDF Author: James A. Inciardi
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506338798
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Retaining the focus and spirit of the widely adopted and acclaimed first edition, The Drug Legalization Debate, Second Edition, offers several alternatives and addresses the major issues involved in the continuing drug legalization debate. This volume delves into the history of drug use and abuse in America and the federal government′s approach to drug control—including deterrence, treatment, education, and prevention. Chapters confront topics such as the decriminalization of marijuana, the risk of the war on drugs, an enlightened legalization policy, and discussion of the ethical and legal dilemmas at stake. Updates of retained chapters and new chapters deal with drug use trends of the ′90s, including the use of cannabis as a wonder drug and a look at whether legalizing drugs would really reduce violent crime. In addition, the second edition features a substantive introduction and closes with Paul Stares′ acclaimed piece titled "Drug Legalization: Time for a Real Debate." Students and professionals in substance abuse, criminology, sociology, psychology, and social work will find this book essential reading.

Rethinking International Drug Control

Rethinking International Drug Control PDF Author: Mathea Falco
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
ISBN: 9780876092293
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
The foreign interdiction and source country programs on which the United States has spent $25 billion since 1981 are intended to reduce domestic drug abuse. To examine this intersection of domestic and international interests, the Council on Foreign Relations convened an Independent Task Force to review U.S. international drug strategy and to suggest possible future directions. The bipartisan Task Force -- chaired by Mathea Falco, President of Drug Strategies, and former Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters -- included experts with backgrounds in diplomacy, law enforcement, economics, development, public health, judicial institutions, human rights, and multinational business.

Contemporary Drug Policy

Contemporary Drug Policy PDF Author: Henry H Brownstein
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136202714
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
This book focuses on the use of drugs in our lives and how we respond to them. Whereas drug policy typically centres on the problems of illicit drugs or licit drugs used in illicit ways or circumstances, Contemporary Drug Policy instead considers the wide variety of substances we call drugs as a normal part of our personal and social experience and asks how and when drugs benefit us as well as how and when they are harmful. The evidence is clear that at some times, in some circumstances, and in some places drugs are a problem. This book does not ignore these issues but shifts our attention to making policies that also recognize their legitimate and constructive place in society. It focuses on asking questions, challenging assumptions, and developing responses to drugs based on evidence from scientific study as directed by critical criminological theory rather than mainstream theory or unfounded assumptions. Different from other books on drug policy, this book does not offer answers or solutions. Rather it shows how critical criminological theories can lead scientific research in new directions supportive of policies that offer both solutions to problems that are found to be related to drugs and an appreciation for the benefits that drugs can bring to people and society. This book will be of interest to those studying or researching drug policy as well as professionals involved in policy making processes.

Rethinking Drug Courts: International Experiences of a US Policy Export

Rethinking Drug Courts: International Experiences of a US Policy Export PDF Author: John Collins
Publisher: London Publishing Partnership
ISBN: 1907994866
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
What are drug courts? Do they work? Why are they so popular? Should countries be expanding them or rolling them back? These are some of the questions this volume attempts to answer. Simultaneously popular and problematic, loved and loathed, drug courts have proven an enduring topic for discussion in international drug policy debates. Starting in Miami in the 1980s and being exported enthusiastically across the world, we now have a range of international case studies to re-examine their effectiveness. Whereas traditional debates tended towards binaries like “do they work?”, this volume attempts to unpick their export and implementation, contextualising their efficacy. Instead of a simple yes or no answer, the book provides key insights into the operation of drug courts in various parts of the world. The case studies range from a relatively successful small-scale model in Australia, to the large and unwieldy business of drug courts in the US, to their failed scale-up in Brazil and the small and institutionally adrift models that have been tried in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The book concludes that although drug courts can be made to work in very specific niche contexts, the singular focus on them as being close to a “silver bullet” obscures the real issues that societies must address, including (but not limited to) a more comprehensive and full-spectrum focus on diverting drug-involved individuals away from the criminal justice system.

Pros and Cons of Drug Legalization, Decriminalization, and Harm Reduction

Pros and Cons of Drug Legalization, Decriminalization, and Harm Reduction PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description


Rethinking Our War on Drugs

Rethinking Our War on Drugs PDF Author: Gary L. Fisher
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313077525
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The National Drug Control Policy has failed its two major functions (supply reduction and demand reduction) due to faulty assumptions regarding nearly every aspect of the alcohol and drug fields, charges author Fisher. Yet in spite of overwhelming evidence of this failure policy makers have strongly resisted discussing major changes to the assumptions that underly current policy, because of political pressure, bias and philosophical intransigence, he adds. Fisher discusses controversial topics and defends uncommon approaches in chapters focused on subjects including legalization, harm reduction, the futility of supply reduction, the problem of underage drinking and effectiveness of treatment and prevention. He proposes a new national policy for drug control, including elimination of the war metaphor, inclusion of alcohol in the mandate, conceptualization of addiction as a public health problem, utilization of harm reduction principles to guide policy and discontinuation of approaches that isolate drug and alcohol problems from their connection to broader social issues such as poverty. In this work, the premises of the current National Drug Control Strategy are challenged, and both Democratic and Republican administrations across the last 10 years are critically examined. Statements of the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Strategy are critiqued. Major points include that there is no evidence the NDCS has achieved any of its goals, that harm reduction should be its guiding principle, and supply reduction should not be part of the national strategy.

Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed

Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed PDF Author: James Gray
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 159213789X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
A devastating indictment of the War on Drugs.