NCJ Number
110612
Date Published
1984
Length
174 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the philosophical and historical foundations of efforts to control techniques for altering consciousness through alcohol and drugs focuses on the rights of individuals to diversify and enrich their experience and, conversely, the obligations of governments to protect their citizens.
Abstract
The book begins with a discussion of some traditional problems of political liberty and their relevance to drug control, followed by a discussion of concepts of addiction, dependence, and compulsive drug use, which are important to both medical and legal definitions of drug abuse. A review of political and medical theories of drug use is supplemented by an examination of some aspects of the history and sociology of modern drug control. The book offers a typology of the forms of drug control, with judgments about their historical roots, theoretical bases, and comparative advantages and drawbacks. The book concludes by considering alternative ways of looking at what is usually called the 'drug problem.' The concluding discussion notes that since neither a drug-using utopia nor a drug-free society is possible, flexibility is required in dealing with various kinds of drug use and drug users. This implies a greater variety of controls and more compromises between social reality and law enforcement demands. 200-item bibliography, subject index.