Drug war heresies : learning from other vices, times, and places / / Robert J. MacCoun, Peter Reuter [[electronic resource]]

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910449883203321
• Autore: MacCoun Robert J.
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2001
• ISBN: 1-107-11348-2; 1-280-15315-6; 0-511-11653-5; 0-511-01792-8; 0-511-15485-2; 0-511-32345-X; 0-511-75427-2; 0-511-05371-1
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xvi, 479 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)
• Collana: RAND studies in policy analysis
• Disciplina: 364.1/77/0973
• Soggetti: Drug legalization - United States; Drug control - United States; Drug control; Drug abuse - Government policy - United States; Drug abuse - Government policy
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 410-455) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: 1. Preface and overview -- ; 2. Drug prohibition : American style -- ; 3. The debate -- ; 4. Philosophical underpinnings -- ; 5. How does prohibition affect drug use -- ; 6. How does prohibition affect drug harms -- ; 7. Other vices : prostitution and gambling -- ; 8. Other substances : alcohol and cigarettes -- ; 9. U.S. experience with legal cocaine and heroin -- ; 10. Learning from European experiences -- ; 11. Cannabis policies in The Netherlands -- ; 12. Harm reduction in Europe -- ; 13. Summary of the evidence and a framework for assessment -- ; 14. Projecting the consequences of alternative regimes -- ; 15. Obstacles to moving beyond the drug war.
• Sommario/riassunto: This book provides the first multidisciplinary and nonpartisan analysis ; of how the United States should decide on the legal status of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. It draws on data about the experiences of Western European nations with less punitive drug policies as well as new analyses of America's experience with legal cocaine and heroin a century ago, and of America's efforts to regulate gambling, prostitution, alcohol and cigarettes. It offers projections on the likely consequences of a number of different legalization regimes and shows that the choice about how to regulate drugs involves complicated tradeoffs among goals and conflict among social groups. The book presents a sophisticated discussion of how society should deal with the uncertainty about the consequences of legal change. Finally, it explains, in terms of individual attitudes toward risk, why it is so difficult to accomplish substantial reform of drug policy in America.