NCJ Number
170568
Editor(s)
E L Jensen,
J Gerber
Date Published
1998
Length
269 pages
Annotation
Twelve papers examine the various anti-drug campaigns ("drug wars") that have been mounted in the United States, along with their effects on and implications for the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Included are critical discussions of several drug wars, beginning with the anti-opiate campaign following the enactment of the Harrison Act in 1914. Drug policy is examined from the social constructionist perspective, which seeks to identify and analyze the social and political dynamics that produce social policy and legislation, as well as the consequences of the policy and its implementation. As reflected in the papers presented, the authors believe that a combination of political opportunism, media profit maximization, and a desire among criminal justice professionals to increase their spheres of influence has led to many misguided and ineffective drug policies. Among the issues addressed are the media construction of the drug crisis in America and how some U.S. drug laws reflect and implement institutionalized racial discrimination, notably the disparity in sentencing between crack-cocaine and powdered-cocaine offenses. Another paper shows how research on the drugs-violence connection has been interpreted differently by advocates of divergent drug- control ideologies. Other papers analyze drug-testing policy, drug abuse by pregnant mothers, the U.S. role in international drug control, and Canadian drug-control policies from a social constructionist perspective. A number of papers recommend a shift in drug policy from a "prohibition model" to a "harm-reduction model." The latter is based in a public health perspective that focuses on a strategy and programs that address the harms caused to drug users and society by the abusive use of drugs. A 592-item bibliography