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We Can't Go Cold Turkey: Why Suppressing Drug Markets Endangers Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2021
Extract
This essay argues that policies aimed at suppressing drug use exacerbate the nation's opioid problem. It neither endorses drug use nor advocates legalizing the consumption and sale of all substances in all circumstances. Instead, it contends that trying to suppress drug markets is the wrong goal, and in the midst of an addiction crisis it can be deadly. There is no single, correct drug policy; the right approach depends crucially on the substance at issue, the patterns of use and supply, and the jurisdiction's culture, institutions, and material resources. Decriminalization is no panacea for a nation's drug problems. Nevertheless, either de jure or de facto decriminalization of personal drug possession is a necessary condition for mitigating this crisis.
- Type
- Symposium Articles
- Information
- Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 46 , Issue 2: Law and the Opioid Crisis: An Inter-Disciplinary Examination , Summer 2018 , pp. 325 - 342
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2018
References
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