Synopses & Reviews
This meticulously researched study represents the first effort to provide a nonpartisan and objective analysis of how the United States should approach the drug legalization question. It surveys what is known about the effects of different drug policies in Western Europe and what happened when cocaine and heroin were legal in the US a century ago. The book shows that legalization involves different tradeoffs between health and crime and the interests of the inner city minority communities and the middle class. The book explains why it is so difficult to accomplish substantial reform of drug policy.
Review
"but for anybody serously and earnestly concerned about drug policy, it is likely to become indispensable." The Nation Nov 26 01
Review
"...an enormously important book. This is especially true because drug policy is a field where tendentiousness prevails, with the exception of a very few other works...for anybody seriously and earnestly concerned about drug policy, it is likely to become indispensible." The Nation"...the largest, most sweeping comparative investigations of the contemporary use, regulation, and policing of various drugs and addictive behaviors..." amazon.com"Drug War Heresies is undeniably an impressive work of social science." The Public Interest
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 410-455) and indexes.
Table of 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. US 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.