Annotated Bibliography for Drug Legalization

Annotated Bibliography

Bennett, William. "Should drugs be legalized?" Drugs: Should We Legalize, Decriminalize or Deregulate, 1998, p. 63.

This article presents a strong case for the moral importance of enforcing drug laws and criminalizing substances. He acknowledges that the drug war consumes resources and seems thankless, but he argues that the effects of drug use are hugely destructive. He cites research that suggests that legalization would cause a 500% to 600% increase in cocaine use and additionally answers specific arguments in favor of legalization, such as eliminating the black market, crime reduction, the status of drug use as a victimless crime, and others. The utility of this article is primarily structural. It presents a compelling and articulate perspective on the opposing viewpoint, allowing my paper to have a specific, non-straw men opponent to answer argumentatively.

Berger, Lisa. "Drug Policy in Portugal: An Interview With Helen Redmond, LCSW, CADC." Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, vol. 13, no. 2, 2013, pp. 216-222.

This article is an interview conducted with Helen Redmond, an independent journalist, drug counselor, and social worker who has spent a great deal of time in Portugal. She relates her experience with their drug policy, arguing that Portugal treats drug users with respect, basing the policy on human rights. The decriminalization of schedule one drugs allows drug users to be approached in an innovative way. While the Portugal law did not legalize drugs (as trafficking and dealing are still criminal), the policies have still allowed for a radical shift in treatment of drug users. This article is very useful in that it presents an alternative to the status quo of prohibition, proving that it can be lived and enacted in a concrete way. It provides a clear picture of what a society with drug legalization might look with and the opportunities provided by that policy move.

Boettke, Peter J., et al. "Keep Off the Grass: The Economics of Prohibition and US Drug Policy." Oregon Law Review, vol. 91, 2013, p. 1069.

This focuses on the economic consequences of drug policy in the United States, while also exploring the various human rights problems with prohibition policies. Using basic economic models of supply and demand, authors cite various unintended consequences of prohibition, such as the demand driving up drug prices and the increase of violence. The article also explores the economic consequences to an individual convicted of a drug offense and the increase of police militarization, harming the right to private property, and general mission creep. The article suggests legalizing to mitigate the harms the author explored, explicitly citing Portugal. This article will be useful because it provides a way of concretizing the harms caused by drug prohibition. Additionally, the use of economic models of supply and demand provide an analytical warrant for the empirical behavior that other authors talk about. In other words, it gives us a reason to think that reformation of prohibition is not the answer.

Ford, Brian A. "From Mountains to Molehills: A Comparative Analysis of Drug Policy." Ann. Surv. Int'l & Comp. L., vol. 19, 2013, pp. 197-301.

This paper analyzes the global debate about the movement away from prohibition toward a harms reduction model of drug policy. Prohibitionist approaches are those that have the government use criminal law as a mechanism for excluding drugs from society and directly combating its harms. It is the international status quo. The harms reduction approach tries to actually reintroduce drug users into society, treating them as a medical problem and acknowledging their human rights. This approach is gaining popularity. The author compares and contrasts the different methods and discusses their efficacy in different countries. Then, finally, he goes through various arguments for legalization in this global context. The three he explicitly cites are the elimination of the black market, the immorality of criminally prosecuting drug users and the harmonization of the harms reduction approach with the law. This article is useful on two main fronts. The first is that the author provides a global context for drug legalization, comparing and contrasting different types of drug policy. This is useful to be able to support a specific advocacy for legalization, because it allows one to talk about the way that it has been instantiated in the real world. Second, the article presents a comprehensive moral and political doctrine of dealing with drugs—the harms reduction model—that is able to be opposed to the prevailing view of prohibition.