NCJ Number
123717
Journal
Commentary Volume: 89 Issue: 2 Dated: (February 1990) Pages: 21-28
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The 1972 chairperson of the National Advisory Council for Drug Abuse Prevention argues that just as the refusal to legalize heroin in 1972 has prevented an increase in the population of heroin addicts, a refusal to legalize cocaine and other drugs is now an essential means of preventing an increase in the seriousness of the nation's drug problem.
Abstract
The view that abusing drugs like cocaine is a victimless crime is both absurd and dangerous. Like heroin addicts, crack-dependent people regularly victimize their children by neglect, their spouses by improvidence, their employers by lethargy, and their coworkers by carelessness. In addition, arguments that legalization poses little risk of increasing cocaine use rest on a logical fallacy and a factual error. Moreover, the argument that the drug war is ineffective is not supported by the evidence, which shows that heavy cocaine use is uncommon. Furthermore, the illegality of drugs makes it easier to compel treatment and makes drug prevention programs more credible. Comparisons with alcohol are also inappropriate, in part because of the lower addictiveness of alcohol in comparison to cocaine and heroin. Finally, containing a problem while it is still containable provides time for science to learn more about it and possibly discover a cure.