Why America Is Losing the Drug War


 

Publication Date: June 1988

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Jeffrey A. Eisenach

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: Society

Type: Report

Abstract:

The evidence indicates that drug use can be cut when reasonably aggressive enforcement efforts are combined with "measured response" penalties against the drug user. Future policy thus should focus heavily on the "demand side" of the drug equation, and not simply beef up interdiction. A carefully designed "zero tolerance" strategy would enable the U.S. at last to turn the tide in the war on drugs.