The question is no longer if we should end the war on drugs but how do we do it. This latest addition to the NoNonsense series counts the human and financial cost of fifty years drug war—and proceeds to outline a better way, looking at where drug law reform is already working, how to overcome the obstacles to reform and what a post drug war world looks like. Steve Rolles is a writer and policy analyst at drug reform organization, Transform. He was lead author on After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation. He is a regular contributor to the public debate on drug policy and law in the media.

Retaining the focus and spirit of the widely adopted and acclaimed first edition, The Drug Legalization Debate, Second Edition, offers several alternatives and addresses the major issues involved in the continuing drug legalization debate. This volume delves into the history of drug use and abuse in America and the federal government′s approach to drug control—including deterrence, treatment, education, and prevention. Chapters confront topics such as the decriminalization of marijuana, the risk of the war on drugs, an enlightened legalization policy, and discussion of the ethical and legal dilemmas at stake. Updates of retained chapters and new chapters deal with drug use trends of the ′90s, including the use of cannabis as a wonder drug and a look at whether legalizing drugs would really reduce violent crime. In addition, the second edition features a substantive introduction and closes with Paul Stares′ acclaimed piece titled "Drug Legalization: Time for a Real Debate." Students and professionals in substance abuse, criminology, sociology, psychology, and social work will find this book essential reading.

This completely revised and updated secong edition of the Drug Legalization Debate continues to address, and offer alternatives to, the major issues.

This anthology is composed of primary sources written by many of the foremost authorities on drug legalization. Leading conservative, liberal, and centrist views are represented, introducing your readers to the broadest possible spectrum of opinions on the topic. Each chapter asks a pertinent question about the topic, and the viewpoints that follow are grouped into “yes” and “no” categories. This unique approach provides readers with a concise view of divergent opinions on each topic. Contains extensive book and periodical bibliographies and a list of organizations to contact are also included. Provide your readers with this invaluable resource, so they can understand the debate over drug legalization from all angles.

Examines arguments in support of and against legalizing drugs.

As the government spends over $21 billion a year to rid the nation of drugs, pro-legalization forces argue that the war on drugs is a mistake. Legalizing Drugs explores mandatory minimum sentencing, public safety, medical marijuana, and the hazards of legalization with articles presenting opinions on both side of the issue.

No wonder the war on drugs is being lost: the warriors' arrows are all pointed in the wrong directions. The black-market-driven effects of prohibition, which include crime and its spiraling scourges as well as death and disease, are overall counterproductive. Ironically, the severe penalties intended to halt serious abuse intimidate the occasional user but not the real target, whose desperate search for consolation in drugs is more result than cause of the misery of marginalization. The rationale for reform, most commonly rooted in a cost/benefit comparison (public harm versus public health) or in the libertarian argument, comprises the first part of this persuasive plea for a paradigm shift and paves the way for the second, on approaches to legalizing drugs.

On the 75th anniversary of the Harrison Narcotic Act that unleashed the federal anti-drug crusade, historian Richard Lawrence Miller explores the origins, purposes, and effects of America's drug war. Thoroughly documented, The Case for Legalizing Drugs assembles diverse findings by chemists, biologists, pharmacologists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, prosecutors, police officers, and drug users themselves. The resulting mosaic argues that most problems associated with illicit drugs are caused by laws restricting them. This book is a realistic appraisal of legalization, vital to anyone concerned about illicit drugs, public policy, and democracy. Despite the ineffectiveness and counterproductivity of anti-drug laws, enthusiasm grows for them. Laws that fail to eliminate drugs may nonetheless achieve hidden goals. Miller illuminates those goals and asks whether they are wise. Although drug war proponents may complain that civil liberties interfere with drug suppression, Miller argues that the answer is not less democracy, but more. He presents a message of hope and healing, based upon a century of scientific research and historical experience, and declares that legalization would not be a surrender to drugs, but liberation from them.