NCJ Number
180546
Date Published
1998
Length
202 pages
Annotation
This book examines British drug control policies in the areas of law enforcement strategies, drug referral schemes, and official and media reactions to drug use.
Abstract
Part I contains three chapters on drug law enforcement. Chapter 1 charts the failings of enforcement that has targeted high-level drug dealers and develops the argument for street-level drug law enforcement. The discussion of low-level (street) and local policing of a street drug market continues into Chapter 2 and expands the discussion to focus on demands on the police as well as reactive and proactive police responses to drug trafficking. Chapter 3 reviews the philosophical and practical arguments for and against drug legalization. Part II presents research findings on drug referral schemes across the country. One chapter in this section lays out the context and describes the development and assessment of referral in three areas: Trafford, Southwark, and Merseyside. Another chapter surveys some local referral schemes in action and identifies common problems that have recurred. Part III of the book moves away from a narrow focus on police strategies to examine official and media reaction to crack cocaine and yardies (a new group of black criminals), and more recently to ecstasy. The author suggests how the reaction to drugs and crack in particular can be viewed as a symbolic crusade by politicians and as a moral enterprise by the police. A 264-item bibliography and a subject index