Drug use, drug prohibition and minority communities

MacCoun and Reuter's primary goal is to understand how current U.S. drug policies can be improved. They carefully describe the facts and trends regarding drug usage, criminal justice enforcement, and the harms associated with drug use, then discuss the public debate surrounding drug prohibition and give an informal treatment of the theory underlying the competing positions. The authors study policies towards other vices like gambling, cigarettes, alcohol, and prostitution, as well as drug policies in other times and places. The broader implication that emerges is that there is a desperate need for better data and increased research if there is any hope for making truly informed policy on illicit drugs.

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Readiness for Drug Use Prevention in Rural Minority Communities

Substance Use & Misuse ◽

10.3109/10826089909037229 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 34 (4-5) ◽

pp. 521-544 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Barbara Plested ◽

Debra M. Smitham ◽

Pamela Jumper-Thurman ◽

Eugene R. Oetting ◽

Ruth W. Edwards

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Minority Communities ◽

Drug Use Prevention

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DID Drug Prohibition Work?: Reflections on the End of the First Cocaine Experience in the United States, 1910–45

Journal of Drug Issues ◽

10.1177/002204269802800212 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 517-538 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Joseph Spillane

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Drug Use ◽

The United States ◽

Drug Markets ◽

Informal Controls ◽

International Trends ◽

Drug Policies ◽

Legal Controls ◽

Drug Prohibition

The use of cocaine in the United States began during the mid-1880s, reached a peak between 1900 and 1915, and then went into a period of sustained decline. This study examines several explanations for cocaine's decline, and concludes that the start of legal prohibition was only partly responsible. Legal controls virtually eliminated the licit supply of cocaine, and increased the costs of obtaining illicit supplies. These trends, however, had begun much earlier as a result of regulation and informal controls. Moreover, the “successs” of legal prohibition depended upon a number of unique historical circumstances, including the ready supply of cheap heroin for domestic drug markets. The conclusion of the first cocaine era was neither an inevitable end to a “cycle” of drug use, nor the outcome of a well-planned set of drug policies, but the product of a combination of national and international trends.

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The case against drug prohibition

Ekonomia ◽

10.19195/2084-4093.24.2.4 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 49-60

Author(s):

Walter E. Block ◽

Alexandra Orriols ◽

Winston Thompson ◽

Megan McAndrews

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Inmate Population ◽

The Poor ◽

Alcohol Prohibition ◽

Drug Prohibition

The case against drug prohibitionThe case against drug prohibition is overwhelming. This law is to drugs what alcohol prohibition was to those substances: a disaster. Drug use, by and among consenting adults, is a victimless crime: it preys on the poor, lifts our inmate population into the stratosphere, has negative racial connotations and leads to needless deaths.

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The perspectives of drug users within the social context of drug prohibition

Drugs and Alcohol Today ◽

10.1108/17459265200900015 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 19-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Iain McPhee ◽

Tim Duffy ◽

Colin Martin

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Drug Use ◽

Drug Users ◽

Illicit Drugs ◽

Antisocial Behaviour ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

The Social ◽

The Impact ◽

Drug Prohibition

This study explored the perspectives of low‐level drug market users on the availability, purchase and consumption of illicit drugs within the social context of drug prohibition. A snowballing technique was used to recruit 16 participants consisting of nine males and seven females aged between 17 and 43. A semi‐structured interview process elicited their views on their use of drugs, where they obtained them, their views on the impact of the criminal justice system on their drug use and finally their views on how drug users were perceived by non‐drug users. While some negative consequences of using drugs were reported, no participant considered that their use of drugs made them an addict, a criminal or antisocial. The findings from this study suggest that current punitive drug policy, which links drug use with addiction, crime and antisocial behaviour was inconsistent with the experience of the participants.

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