NCJ Number
146431
Journal
Social Service Review Dated: (December 1992) Pages: 571-581
Date Published
1992
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article explains four approaches to drug policy -- legalization, entitlement, paternalism, and punishment -- as a means of clarifying the current debate on national drug policy.
Abstract
A legalization strategy for drug policy stems from advocacy for individual rights and personal choice. Proponents of legalization also argue that social-control measures are not effective and undermine the legitimacy of state authority. Proponents of an "entitlement" approach to drug policy share with legalization proponents a concern for due process and individual rights as well as an interest in the decriminalization of drug use. Unlike the legalization approach, however, the entitlement strategy gives greater emphasis to a disease model of drug use. Proponents of the entitlement strategy believe drug users have a right to receive government-supported treatment as an alternative to imprisonment. The approach called "paternalism" combine the emphasis on the disease model of drug use with social control. This strategy expands the use of "therapeutic control," which features involuntary commitment of drug users to treatment facilities. Punishment as an approach to drug policy reflects the long-held belief in deterrence, which is the use of punitive measures to discourage and prevent socially proscribed behavior. Proponents of a punishment approach view drug use as a personal decision and a moral choice. Those who make the wrong choice should be punished for it. America currently relies on policies of paternalism and punishment to deal with drug abuse, despite doubts about the efficacy of these policies and amid growing concern about the dangers of control strategies. A renewed discussion of drug policy alternatives is warranted. 35 references