NCJ Number
117773
Journal
American Behavioral Scientist Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Dated: (January/February 1989) Pages: 295-315
Date Published
1989
Length
21 pages
Annotation
A solution to the drug problem in the United States is possible only if the alcohol and tobacco industries, which are the two main drug industries in the United States, change drastically or are made to change drastically their goals and ways of doing business.
Abstract
The main cause of all drug use is the drug culture that is a major feature of American society. It will be impossible to reduce the abuse of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana significantly as long as tobacco and alcohol are heavily promoted and the other elements of the drug culture remain in place. In addition, given the economic, political, and social power of the main drug industries, it will be hard to deal effectively with the drug problem. Furthermore, legalization will not solve the drug problem. It might or might not make the drug problem worse, depending on how it was carried out and what else was done programmatically to accompany it. However, solving the whole drug problem requires major changes in the way our society comports itself and will cost certain sectors of the economy a great deal of money. The problem could be solved if the tobacco industry recognized itself as a killer enterprise and planned and implemented its own gradual self-destruction and if the alcohol industry recognized that it is making its profits from alcoholism in that 50 percent of its sales are made to 10 percent of its consumers. 32 references.