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Drug Policy
- PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Few would dispute that illicit drug use and abuse is one of the most prominent and perplexing issues facing our society. For nearly a century, the United States has been an active proponent of the punitive prohibition of illicit drugs. Unfortunately the “war on drugs” has been largely unsuccessful; prosecution of illegal drug consumption has filled our prisons without significantly reducing crime, decreasing homelessness, preventing overdose deaths, diminishing the spread of HIV, or undermining the illegal drug market. Many would now argue that the vision of a “drug-free” America is unrealistic. Other countries are turning to “harm reduction” policies to reduce the societal damage that illegal drug use causes.
To further the debate with an aim toward producing policy options and policy recommendations that can be presented to local, state, and national decisionmakers, the Baker Institute convened a unique conference on drugs in 2002. The conference brought together academicians, healthcare experts, leaders of the drug reform movement, representatives of drug policy organizations, and government, law enforcement, and government officials from the United States (including Asa Hutchinson, then director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) and around the world to share their views on the drug problem. With cautious optimism, the Baker Institute’s Drug Policy Program will continue to pursue research and open debate on local and national drug policies in the hope of developing policies that, as one conference participant said, are pragmatic, based on common sense, driven by human rights interests, and focused on reducing the death, disease, crime, and suffering associated with drug use. Video coverage and papers from this conference are available on the Baker Institute website.
In recent research, William Martin, the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Senior Fellow in Religion and Public Policy at the Baker Institute, has contended that needle exchange programs, in wide use in many countries but scarce and often opposed in the United States, are a proven method of reducing the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C without increasing drug use and constitute a fiscally responsible, medically prudent, and compassionate public health measure that ought to be widely adopted. (See “Needle Exchange Programs: Sending the Right Message” on the Baker Institute website.) Current research is focusing on: 1) programs of controlled “maintenance” of addicts—using methadone, buprenorphine, and other substances, including pharmaceutical-grade heroin itself—as a proven approach to reduce crime, disease, poverty, and other ills associated with addiction; and 2) on the injustices and enormous individual and social costs associated with a punishment-oriented approach to drug use and abuse, perhaps seen most clearly in mandatory minimum sentences that can consign drug users with no record of violent or other serious crime to decades in prison, at great financial cost and with little evidence of efficacious consequences.
- PUBLICATIONS
- 2007
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Policy with a Point: Clean Needles for Drug Addicts
Mar 16 2007William Martin
- 2005
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Needle Exchange Programs: Sending the Right Message
Mar 01 2005
- 2002
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Drugs, Democracy, and the Andean Crisis
Apr 10 2002
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Moving Beyong the 'War on Drugs' - Transcript of Remarks
Apr 10 2002
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Shifting the Main Purposes of Drug Control: From Suppression to Regulation of Use
Apr 10 2002
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Restoring Respect for Our Law, Our Communities, and Ourselves: Drug Policy and Democracy
Apr 10 2002
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Our Drug Laws Have Failed
Apr 10 2002
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The Impact of Government Regulation on The Medical Treatment of Pain
Apr 10 2002
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Drug Policy in the Shadow of the Elephant - Includes June 2003 Update
Apr 10 2002
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Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens, Drugs, and Drug Education
Apr 10 2002
