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Drug War Heresies: Learning from Other Vices, Times, and Places (RAND Studies in Policy Analysis) 1st Edition
- Edition1st
- PublisherCambridge University Press
- Publication dateAugust 27, 2001
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions5.98 x 1.18 x 8.98 inches
- Print length496 pages
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"MacCoun and Reuter's book turns out to be first-rate scholarship. It is an incredibly carefully researched, thoughtful book--far and away the best scholarship I have ever encountered on the subject. This is a book I would recommend to economists interested in researching the area, to those just generally interested in the topic, and to cocktail party bores who mindlessly preach either the necessity of legalization or the inevitability of social ruin if legalization were to occur." Journal of Economic Literature
"...the largest, most sweeping comparative investigations of the contemporary use, regulation, and policing of various drugs and addictive behaviors..." amazon.com
"MacCoun and Reuter offer a refreshing, even unique, overview based more on data than preconceptions, and paying attention to aspects of this important issue that are generaly ignored.... Although no easy answers are offered, there are good and welcome guidelines on how to address the unavoidable difficult questions." Choice
"The book is well written, and it provides a fresh perspective on several options for drug policy. It certainly gives a valuable perspective on these enduring issues." Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare
Book Description
Product details
- ASIN : B008SLXFD2
- Publisher : Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (August 27, 2001)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 496 pages
- Item Weight : 1.55 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.98 x 1.18 x 8.98 inches
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Rob MacCoun is a psychologist and the James and Patricia Kowal Professor of Law at Stanford. From 1986 to 1993 he was a Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation, and from 1993 to 2014, he was a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the School of Law at UC Berkeley. He has conducted basic research on judgment, decision making, and social influence, as well as empirical policy analyses of recreational drug laws and the debate over gays and lesbians in the US military. In 2019, MacCoun received the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award of the Association for Psychological Science, which “honors distinguished APS Members for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to applied psychological research.” For a dozen years, he played jazz guitar in dozens of bars and restaurants for dozens of dollars in tips (split a half dozen ways with his bandmates).
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Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2003
Another interesting companion study is the Consumer Reports study that was released in 1972. It is comprehensive and treats the many aspects of the "drug problem" in America. See:
Breacher, Edward M. et al., Licit and Illicit Drugs: the Consumers Union report on narcotics, stimulants, depressants, inhalants, hallucinogens, and marijuana - including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. (Boston: Little Brown, 1972).
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2012
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2016
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2006
Rather than attempt a summary of the contents, let me simply point to three specifics as representative of the wealth of insight the reader will encounter. First, MacCoun and Reuter have expanded the typical dichotomous legalization v criminalization perspectives to include depenalization and commercialization. Counter the arguments of drug prohibitionists, depenalization does not seem to be inextricably intertwined with massive increases in the prevalence of drug use as is anticipated with legalization. Also, legalization may have less negative increases in prevalence without the accompaniment of commercialization. By adding these two considerations, MacCoun and Reuter enable expansion of the debate into potentially fertile areas for improving the consequences of prohibition.
Secondly, the careful analysis of the 48 negative consequences of prohibition and the related causal linkage to enforcement, illegal status, and use should be the focus of careful reflection by every reader. In many respects, the damage caused by the War on Drugs is a kind of collateral damage - unintentionally caused by the implementation of US prohibition efforts.
Thirdly, MacCoun & Reuter reconceptualize the total harmfulness of illicit drugs as the interaction of three factors: prevalence, intensity, and micro harm (i.e., user self-damage). Much of the criticism of drug prohibition deals with the extensive micro harm without equal weight being given to the total harmfulness to our society. The negative correlation between prevalence and micro harm is among the more interesting possibilities to consider.
In summary, it is quite difficult to imagine a more sensitive evaluation of drug prohibition that so carefully considers the US case in light of the European context and the historical experience with legal addictive substances (alcohol and tobacco). I cannot recommend this book more highly.