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NCJ Number:	123546

Title:	Drug Policy and the Intellectuals

Journal:	Police Chief Volume:57 Issue:5 Dated:(May 1990) Pages:30-33,36

Author(s):	W J Bennett

Date Published:	1990

Annotation:	The author, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, charges a large portion of the intelligentsia with complacency and indifference in their views on how to curb drug abuse.

Abstract:	According to the author, the intelligentsia dichotomously believes, and he inversely disagrees, that the drug problem in America is simply solved, yet it is also a lost cause. He dismisses the drug legalization argument as superficial and disingenuous and finds it bizarre that the political left and right should unite around that argument. He rebutts legalization advocates' notion about taking the profit out of the drug business, claiming that most illegal drug dealers never attain the good life they seek, and that a steady job at McDonald's would be a step up for them financially. He claims further that drug laws help make drug use an unattractive choice, much the way civil rights laws make racism an unattractive choice; and that increased drug use brought about by legalization would result in massive human and treatment costs that far surpass the costs of the current law enforcement policy. Finally, he claims that the war on drugs has already shown slow, careful progress and would improve if intellectuals would support it.

Main Term(s):	Drug law enforcement; Drug legalization

Index Term(s):	Conservatism; Liberalism

Page Count:	5

Format:	Article

Type:	Survey

Language:	English

Country:	United States of America



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