NCJ Number
171785
Journal
Valparaiso University Law Review Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1997) Pages: 597-645
Date Published
1997
Length
49 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the impact of current drug policy on the welfare of children and youth.
Abstract
Drug prohibition has increased the value of drugs to phenomenal levels. Yet drug crops are easy to grow and to process. Drugs are thus widely available at very high prices. Yet the illegality of drugs results in the entire drug marketplace operating outside the law. The conflicts in the "ordinary course of business" in the market cannot be resolved through the courts, and thus the disputants resort to violence. The valuable commodities are tempting targets for theft, and thus the criminals who run the markets require armed guards for the most elementary protection. The harsh sentences for drug trafficking result in desperate measures to minimize the risk of being apprehended. All of these factors lead to the recruitment of children into the drug trade and its associated violence. The drive to protect children from drugs has created a "zero- tolerance" paradigm that has overwhelmed consideration of other strategies for protecting children as well as other vital interests. Yet the desire to protect children from drugs exceeds the desire to protection children from many other dangers. As long as policy is driven by the zeal to punish rather than by the rational, effective management of human behavior and human needs, then children will suffer from the "war on drugs." 171 footnotes