Drugs: Should We Legalize, Decriminalize or Deregulate? (Contemporary Issues (Prometheus))

Does drug addiction exist? Do we have a right to use drugs? Is personal responsibility achieved at the cost of individual liberty? Can drugs ever be controlled? Would a free market in drugs reduce social problems? This rich and diverse collection assembles a wide range of views in the ongoing debate over drug legalization, decriminalization, and deregulation in America.

Reformers looking to lighten and eliminate drug laws are a divided group, with some claiming that drug abuse is a disease, a national health problem that should be treated as such, while those committed to the "war on drugs" stress personal responsibility, and that there is no such thing as the "disease" of addiction. Attitudes are splintered over government involvement in enforcement and regulation.

Psychologist Jeffrey A. Schaler seeks to expand our thinking about drug control in a free society by looking at the ethical issues as well as anthropological, sociological, economic, political, and philosophical questions that arise in the debate. This important volume includes essays by William Bennett, Rep. Joseph Biden, President Clinton, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, Thomas Szasz, George Will, John Q. Wilson, and many others.