NCJ Number
128952
Journal
Crime, Law, and Social Change Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1991) Pages: 19-36
Date Published
1991
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The article discusses left realism, defines it and critically examines the response of left realism advocates to demands for the formation of a progressive drug policy.
Abstract
Left realism is seen as speaking more directly to the real concerns of the working class, thereby providing a more sensible basis upon which to pursue a progressive political agenda for criminological issues. The paper critically examines the left realism approach to one particular criminological issue: understanding heroin use and formulating policies with which to deal with heroin use as a social problem. Two specific left realist authors are examined as to their position against legalization and as examples of theorists falling into pitfalls characteristic of that theory rather than of the authors themselves. The article then discusses four potential paradigms which address the use of illicit drugs: pathology, profit, pleasure, and State. By examining these issues, the article suggests alternative paradigms for interpreting drug use and develops a focus on theorizing demand and alternative policy directions which arise from this theory. 32 notes (Author abstract modified)