NCJ Number
129248
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
When comparing the advantages and disadvantages of legalization with those of current and planned policies, evidence suggests that legalization may well be the optimal strategy for tackling the drug problem.
Abstract
Recently, legalization has been seriously considered as a policy option, due to an intellectual rationale and political legitimacy. This strategy would consist of the government making most of the substances that are now banned legally available to competent adults, exercising strong regulatory powers over all large-scale production and sale of drugs, making drug treatment programs available to all who need them, and offering honest drug education programs to children. There are three reasons why it is important to consider legalization: (1) current drug-control policies have failed, are failing, and will continue to fail because they are fundamentally flawed; (2) many drug control efforts are not only failing, but are also proving highly costly and counterproductive; and (3) there is reason to believe that repealing many of the drug laws would not lead to a dramatic rise in drug abuse. Yet legalization is repeatedly dismissed, without any attempt to evaluate it openly and objectively.