The Legalization of Drugs

The Legalization of Drugs
Author: Doug Husak
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2005-08-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139445855

In the United States today, the use or possession of many drugs is a criminal offense. Can these criminal laws be justified? What are the best reasons to punish or not to punish drug users? These are the fundamental issues debated in this book by two prominent philosophers of law. Douglas Husak argues in favor of drug decriminalization, by clarifying the meaning of crucial terms, such as legalize, decriminalize, and drugs; and by identifying the standards by which alternative drug policies should be assessed. He critically examines the reasons typically offered in favor of our current approach and explains why decriminalization is preferable. Peter de Marneffe argues against drug legalization, demonstrating why drug prohibition, especially the prohibition of heroin, is necessary to protect young people from self-destructive drug use. If the empirical assumptions of this argument are sound, he reasons, drug prohibition is perfectly compatible with our rights to liberty.

Pathways of Addiction

Pathways of Addiction
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 1996-11-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309055334

Drug abuse persists as one of the most costly and contentious problems on the nation's agenda. Pathways of Addiction meets the need for a clear and thoughtful national research agenda that will yield the greatest benefit from today's limited resources. The committee makes its recommendations within the public health framework and incorporates diverse fields of inquiry and a range of policy positions. It examines both the demand and supply aspects of drug abuse. Pathways of Addiction offers a fact-filled, highly readable examination of drug abuse issues in the United States, describing findings and outlining research needs in the areas of behavioral and neurobiological foundations of drug abuse. The book covers the epidemiology and etiology of drug abuse and discusses several of its most troubling health and social consequences, including HIV, violence, and harm to children. Pathways of Addiction looks at the efficacy of different prevention interventions and the many advances that have been made in treatment research in the past 20 years. The book also examines drug treatment in the criminal justice setting and the effectiveness of drug treatment under managed care. The committee advocates systematic study of the laws by which the nation attempts to control drug use and identifies the research questions most germane to public policy. Pathways of Addiction provides a strategic outline for wise investment of the nation's research resources in drug abuse. This comprehensive and accessible volume will have widespread relevanceâ€"to policymakers, researchers, research administrators, foundation decisionmakers, healthcare professionals, faculty and students, and concerned individuals.

Illicit Drug Use: Legalization, Treatment, or Punishment?

Illicit Drug Use: Legalization, Treatment, or Punishment?
Author: Erin L. McCoy
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2018-12-15
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 1502643294

Drug abuse and addiction in the United States has reached the level of an epidemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports. More than one million incarcerated people suffer from opioid and other addictions, but only one in ten receives addiction treatment. The debate raging around drug abuse today is whether addicts who commit crime should be sent to jail or to treatment. This book investigates the debate on how to confront illegal drug use and abuse in the United States, using full-color photographs and sidebars to offer readers a complex understanding of the many proposed solutions to this problem.

Every 25 Seconds

Every 25 Seconds
Author: Tess Borden
Publisher:
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2016
Genre: Drug abuse and crime
ISBN: 9781623134105

"The report, "Every 25 Seconds: The Human Toll of Criminalizing Drug Use in the United States," finds that enforcement of drug possession laws causes extensive and unjustifiable harm to individuals and communities across the country. The long-term consequences can separate families; exclude people from job opportunities, welfare assistance, public housing, and voting; and expose them to discrimination and stigma for a lifetime. While more people are arrested for simple drug possession in the US than for any other crime, mainstream discussions of criminal justice reform rarely question whether drug use should be criminalized at all"--Publisher's description.

The American Disease

The American Disease
Author: David F. Musto
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 431
Release: 1999
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0195125096

The American Disease is a classic study of the development of drug laws in the United States. Supporting the theory that Americans' attitudes toward drugs have followed a cyclic pattern of tolerance and restraint, author David F. Musto examines the relationz between public outcry and the creation of prohibitive drug laws from the end of the Civil War up to the present. Originally published in 1973, and then in an expanded edition in 1987, this third edition contains a new chapter and preface that both address the renewed debate on policy and drug legislation from the end of the Reagan administration to the current Clinton administration. Here, Musto thoroughly investigates how our nation has dealt with such issues as the controversies over prevention programs and mandatory minimum sentencing, the catastrophe of the crack epidemic, the fear of a heroin revival, and the continued debate over the legalization of marijuana.

An Analysis of Marijuana Policy

An Analysis of Marijuana Policy
Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Substance Abuse and Habitual Behavior
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 55
Release: 1982-01-01
Genre: Drug abuse
ISBN:

Defenders of marijuana use may seize on the ambiguity or absence of evidence for such damage and ignore any other effects on education or safety; those opposed to marijuana use may emphasize the possibility of chronic disease that is suggested by some laboratory findings and ignore the social, political, and economic costs of fighting a well-established custom. The Committee wishes to make clear what it regards as the limits of this report for the selection of policy alteratives. Scientific judgment can estimate the prevalence of different kinds of use, risks to health, economic costs, and the like under current policies and can try to project such estimates for new policies. It can come to some conclusions based on those estimates. But selection of an alternative is always a value-governed choice, which can ultimately be made only by the political process.

Treating Drug Problems:

Treating Drug Problems:
Author: Committee for the Substance Abuse Coverage Study
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 1992-01-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780309043960

Treating Drug Problems, Volume 2 presents a wealth of incisive and accessible information on the issue of drug abuse and treatment in America. Several papers lay bare the relationship between drug treatment and other aspects of drug policy, including a powerful overview of twentieth century narcotics use in America and a unique account of how the federal government has built and managed the drug treatment system from the 1960s to the present. Two papers focus on the criminal justice system. The remaining papers focus on Employer policies and practices toward illegal drugs. Patterns and cycles of cocaine use in subcultures and the popular culture. Drug treatment from a marketing, supply-and-demand perspective, including an analysis of policy options. Treating Drug Problems, Volume 2 provides important information to policy makers and administrators, drug treatment specialists, and researchers.

Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic

Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 483
Release: 2017-09-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309459575

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

Drugs, Crime and Public Health

Drugs, Crime and Public Health
Author: Alex Stevens
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2010-10-04
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1136918205

Drugs, Crime and Public Health provides an accessible but critical discussion of recent policy on illicit drugs. Using a comparative approach - centred on the UK, but with insights and complementary data gathered from the USA and other countries - it argues that problematic drug use can only be understood in the social context in which it takes place.

Controlling Crime

Controlling Crime
Author: Philip J. Cook
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780226115122

Criminal justice expenditures have more than doubled since the 1980s, dramatically increasing costs to the public. With state and local revenue shortfalls resulting from the recent recession, the question of whether crime control can be accomplished either with fewer resources or by investing those resources in areas other than the criminal justice system is all the more relevant. Controlling Crime considers alternative ways to reduce crime that do not sacrifice public safety. Among the topics considered here are criminal justice system reform, social policy, and government policies affecting alcohol abuse, drugs, and private crime prevention. Particular attention is paid to the respective roles of both the private sector and government agencies. Through a broad conceptual framework and a careful review of the relevant literature, this volume provides insight into the important trends and patterns of some of the interventions that may be effective in reducing crime.