On the Consequences of Toughness,
Abstract
Drug policy has generated two debates in recent years. The more entertaining one concerns the retention of our current prohibitions-the legalization debate. For better or for worse, this remains largely a parlor sport for intellectuals, divorced from the policy-decision process. The more serious debate (and the one addressed in this paper) is the narrower one between the hawks and doves of drug policy, otherwise usually known as the supply-side advocates and the demand-side advocates. The hawks, while denying that they are slighting demand-side considerations, advocate continued expansion of the nation's effort to imprison drug sellers and detect and punish (in various ways) drug users. The doves (whose leaders include Senator Joseph Biden and Congressman Charles Range), while generally accepting the need for vigorous enforcement, argue that current resource commitments to programs directly aimed at demand (prevention and treatment) are grossly underfunded and should be massively increased, even if this be at the expense of enforcement.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA261299
Entities
People
- Peter Reuter
Organizations
- RAND Corporation