Prohibition's Second Failure: The Quest for a Rational and Humane Drug Policy

by Theodore R. Vallance

Overview

Vallance gives a current picture of the American drug problem and the ideological base that maintains it. The author analyzes economic and social costs of the drug problem, including the costs incurred by the recent war on drugs. Reporting the most recent economic cost data on the drug problem, the book states criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of current U.S. drug policy and then discusses its successes and failures. A search for alternatives and options leads to an analysis of values and desirable goals for a new policy orientation, followed by a set of recommendations on how policy change might be wrought. Appendices show reform-oriented organizations, summarize over a dozen commission reports on drug issues, and list major current laws that guide official policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275944827
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/30/1993
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1610L (what's this?)

About the Author

THEODORE R. VALLANCE is Professor and Associate Dean Emeritus of Human Development at Pennsylvania State University. Earlier, he was chief of planning for the National Institute of Mental Health. He has edited Values and Ethics in Human Development Professions (1984) and Mental Health Services in Transition: A Policy Sourcebook (1983).

Table of Contents

Defining the Problem and its Setting in the U.S. Today
Documenting the Costs of the Drug Problem
How Effective and How Good a Bargain is Current Policy?
Policy Options Within the Context of Drug Criminalization and the War Metaphor
What Choices Do We have?
Toward a New Policy
Getting There from Here
Federal Drug Laws
Reform-Oriented Organizations
Studies by Special Committees, Councils, and Commissions
Index