Viewpoints is a Baker Institute Blog feature that provides an array of expert views on a single issue. Each installment runs daily for up to a week as institute fellows, scholars and guest writers offer informed perspectives on the selected topic.
Click through to the posts below to catch up on the Baker Institute Viewpoints series to date. For further analysis of these issues, watch our Baker Institute Viewpoints video series.
December 2014: “Is the current emphasis on treatment in drug policy a short-term trend or is it here to stay?”
- "The future of treatment in drug policy: Stigma remains a serious problem" by Claire D. Clark, Ph.D., M.P.H., postdoctoral fellow at the John P. McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
- "Drug war fatigue, a sympathetic user population and shifting public attitudes drive current drug treatment trends" by Katharine A. Neill, Ph.D., Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy at the Baker Institute
- "Spending on treatment to save on incarceration" by Hadar Aviram, Ph.D., M.A., professor of law at the University of California Hastings College of Law
- "Increased funding and health care reform are key to drug treatment accessibility" by Scott R. Maggard, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University
- "Increased treatment: Popular, beneficial, limited" by William Martin, Ph.D., Harry and Hazel Chavanne Senior Fellow in Religion and Public Policy at the Baker Institute and director of the institute’s Drug Policy Program
November 2014: "What does the future hold for the cannabis industry?"
- "The cannabis industry: Growing pains for now, but success will come" by Katharine A. Neill, Ph.D., Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy at the Baker Institute
- "The cannabis industry: Challenges in Texas" by guest writer Patrick Moran, CEO and managing partner of AquiFlow
- "The cannabis industry: Critical tasks on the road to legalization" by guest writer Dr. Elias Jackson, co-founder and president of Vyripharm Biopharmaceuticals
- "The cannabis industry: Enforcing contracts" by guest writer Rehman Bhalesha, student at South Texas College of Law
- "The cannabis industry: What does the future hold?" by guest writer Leslie Grady McAhren, executive director and director of research at CG Corrigan Inc., a nonprofit, licensed medical provider of cannabis based in Albuquerque, New Mexico
June 2014: "When will Texas legalize marijuana?"
February 2014: "What does jury nullification of marijuana cases in Texas indicate about the possibility of marijuana legalization?"
October 2013: Has drug violence in Mexico declined?
July/August 2013: What are the implications of expanding U.S.-Mexico border security?
June 2013: Is the military the answer to Mexico's drug wars?
May 2013: Will legalizing marijuana improve civil liberties?
January 2013: What are some possible regulatory frameworks for legalized marijuana?
December 2012: What does the prescription drug abuse epidemic mean for the "war on drugs"?
October 2012: Baker Institute experts weigh in on the effectiveness of Mexico's strategy to target drug kingpins:
October 2012: Despite taboos and lost legitimacy, armed groups around the world engage in extreme acts of violence, symbolic and otherwise. What is their motivation and how do they justify their acts?
September 2012: Should marijuana be legalized in the United States?
- “Marijuana: A case for legalization” by William Martin, director of the Baker Institute Drug Policy Program.
- “In a contest with alcohol and tobacco, marijuana wins” by guest writer Sylvia Longmire, an author and expert on Mexico’s drug wars
- “Legalization of marijuana: When, not if” by Baker Institute nonresident drug fellow Gary Hale, former chief of intelligence in the Houston Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration
- “Regulations work: Lessons from California’s experience with medical marijuana” by guest writer Tom Heddleston, Ph.D., whose dissertation examined the formation and development of the medical marijuana movement in California
- “Marijuana won’t be legalized anytime soon” by Tony Payan, fellow in Mexico studies and director of the Mexico Center
- “Why legalizing marijuana is a bad idea” by Joan Neuhaus Schaan, fellow in homeland security and terrorism at the Baker Institute
- Marijuana: A case against legalization" by guest writer Kevin A. Sabet, director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, College of Medicine
August 2012: Recent shootings at a movie theater in Colorado, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and the Empire State Building, as well as the Operation Fast and Furious controversy, have revived debate about the role of guns in our society. Baker Institute experts discussed gun control, Texas gun running, and why the political conversation about guns is unlikely to change anytime soon.
July 2012: Baker Institute experts debated the prospect of a paramilitary force to fight drug cartels, as Mexico’s President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed: