NCJ Number
182804
Journal
Current Issues in Criminal Justice Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2000 Pages: 257-272
Date Published
March 2000
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This paper identifies and analyzes dilemmas of contemporary drug law enforcement in Australia and critiques attempts to resolve them.
Abstract
Observations and arguments in this paper suggest that despite recent reforms, current drug law enforcement approaches represent an awkward compromise with contrasting views in the debate. The supply reduction sector has flirted with harm reduction, but still has difficulty in embracing it as a core policy value. Police and other agencies are being pressured to pursue a single-minded law-and-order strategy. If the enforcement sector succumbs to these pressures, it will risk becoming mired in a resource-consuming "zero tolerance" approach while becoming a target of reformers' criticisms of the adverse outcomes of strictly enforced drug prohibition. There is an alternative, however. If law enforcement policy consisted of a market regulation approach, police and other agencies could move toward a middle ground. Although there would still be difficulties, there would be much greater potential for support and cooperation from those concerned with minimizing drug-related harms. Under such a policy, law enforcement would be only one of the tools available to police for addressing the harms due to illicit drug use and drug supply. The focus would be on the drug use and drug supply that have proven to be more harmful than other forms. The essential task of police would be to regulate markets for illicit drugs in ways that reduce the most serious harms, including the harms that arise from prohibition. 46 references