NCJ Number
140030
Journal
Alaska Justice Forum Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1989) Pages: 1,6-10
Date Published
1989
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The National Drug Control Strategy presented by President Bush in September 1989 and mandated by the 1988 Omnibus Anti-Drug Abuse Act pursues expanded, but traditional drug law enforcement strategies.
Abstract
The funding for these strategies will entail spending an amount equivalent to one-third of the total tax money already spent by Federal, State, and local levels of government on police operations and services. The plan rests on several premises, including the premises that society has been too permissive of drug use, that management of drug control efforts should be centralized in the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and that drug control efforts should focus on priority areas such as cocaine. If expanding the criminal justice system and providing greater authority and resources to drug law enforcement and anti-drug programs will reduce American drug problems, the administration's proposals should demonstrate it. However, if these policies result in increased corruption in the criminal justice system, higher drug prices, and substantial substitutions of alternative drugs such as methamphetamines, we may see a shift toward more public acceptance of a policy of controlled legalization of drugs in the United States. Figures