The essay first describes the increasing success of the hawks in making supply-side obstruction strategy the dominant feature of national drug policy, giving it a distinctively punitive hew. The essay then suggests that the hawks may have gone too far, since the punishment approach is expensive, not so much in terms of money, although it is a significant factor, but rather in terms of the human costs of locking up many people for relatively minor offenses and not locking up many others for more serious offenses. Intense enforcement also increases the harms caused by drug users to themselves and others. The author favors the position of the owls and recommends that costly punitive approaches should be reduced and money shifted to a less punitive regime. Owls focus on the damage that arises from heavy drug use by a relatively small number of those who become dependent. Owl policy would emphasize the development of improved and expanded health and social services aimed at reducing this group's drug use and at improving their social functioning. 65 notes