Violence, Street Crime, and the Drug Legalization Debate: A Perspective and Commentary on the U.S. Experience

• NCJ Number: 154196
• Journal: Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (1995) Pages: 105-118
• Author(s): J A Inciardi; D C McBride; C B McCoy; H L Surratt; C A Saum
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Sweden
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This article reviews the contemporary drug legalization controversy in the U.S., arguing that legalizing drugs would only exacerbate the drug problem.

Abstract

Proponents of legalization maintain that current drug laws have created greater problems than the drugs themselves, that legislation to control drugs has failed to reduce the demand for them, that the prohibition of what many people are committed to doing is impractical, and that legalization would lower the price of drugs and thereby the rate of drug-related crimes. However, this author notes that research has demonstrated that illegal drug use is concentrated in the inner cities, where is would in all likelihood increase were drugs to be legalized. The solution for the U.S. is a drastic policy realignment, in which 50 percent of the Federal funding for programs which seek to reduce the supply of illicit drugs would be shifted into criminal justice-based treatment programs, which, if successful, would reduce the demand for illicit drugs. 65 references