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Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs
Recreational drug users (other than those who take harmful substances like alcohol and tobacco) are regularly imprisoned. Nearly half a million drug offenders are incarcerated in US jails, more than the total number of prisoners in 1980 and more than the entire EU prison population. In some states more is spent on maintaining the prison system than on education. Current drug policies lead to immense personal suffering, as well as police corruption, organized crime and contempt for the law, and make drugs more dangerous because they are illegal and thus not subject to proper controls. Politicians from all sides of the political spectrum are beginning to is it worth it?
In arguing that criminalization is unjust, Douglas Husak explodes many of the myths that surround drug use. In some years, more than half of high school seniors take drugs, yet the US is not overrun with drug-crazed addicts. Horror stories of the dangers of drug use abound, but the truth is more prosaic; although recreational drugs are sometimes bad for users, there are between 80 and 90 million US citizens who have used illicit drugs without ill effects.
In arguing that criminalization is unjust, Douglas Husak explodes many of the myths that surround drug use. In some years, more than half of high school seniors take drugs, yet the US is not overrun with drug-crazed addicts. Horror stories of the dangers of drug use abound, but the truth is more prosaic; although recreational drugs are sometimes bad for users, there are between 80 and 90 million US citizens who have used illicit drugs without ill effects.
210 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 7, 2010
Many of us are already well aware of the disastrous consequences of America's self-proclaimed "War on Drugs." From the massive rise in incarceration rates, primarily of non-violent offenders, to the increased police surveillance of our daily lives, to the denial of financial aid to college students caught with a joint, prohibition of illicit drugs has deeply impacted the lives of nearly every American.
However, in Legalize This, Douglas Husak applies the art of Socratic debate to this topic like a knife through butter. Instead of asking why we should DECRIMINALIZE drug use, Husak asks why we should CRIMINALIZE drug use to begin with. What harm has any individual user done to justify being punished by the state? Husak proposes that America's era drug prohibition should cease on the basis that the punishment of drug users for simply using is unjust. In order for the state to punish a citizen, there must be just cause. In the case of drug use in and of itself, there seems to be no rationale. To criminalize drinking coffee or liquor or smoking tobacco would seem absurd, so why is this not so with other drugs?
Many supporters of prohibition claim that if drugs were decriminalized, society would fall into chaos as everyone would become junkies overnight. However, there is little proof that non-users would start using for the lack of the threat of punishment. There is also little proof that prohibition has been the slightest bit effective at preventing or reducing drug use whatsoever.
What IS proven is that prohibition has had a tremendous negative impact on society of its own. Wasted tax dollars, lack of trust in law enforcement and the justice system by the citizenry, racial profiling, spiking incarceration rates, violence stemming from black market transactions, public corruption, and disastrous foreign policy strategy have all been increased by our society's demand to punish non-violent drug users just for getting high. In other words, this issue is central to a whole host of other societal ills that might be reduced or eliminated entirely if we could simply see the failure of our ways.
Husak's writing is dry and analytical, but justly so, as he critically breaks down several popular rationales for maintaining prohibition, poking holes in their paper-thin logic. For supporters and opponents of drug prohibition alike, I would strongly recommend you read this book and take a critical look at an institution which many assume will always be this way. Husak is an optimist and like myself, believes that things may change much more quickly than we expect.
However, in Legalize This, Douglas Husak applies the art of Socratic debate to this topic like a knife through butter. Instead of asking why we should DECRIMINALIZE drug use, Husak asks why we should CRIMINALIZE drug use to begin with. What harm has any individual user done to justify being punished by the state? Husak proposes that America's era drug prohibition should cease on the basis that the punishment of drug users for simply using is unjust. In order for the state to punish a citizen, there must be just cause. In the case of drug use in and of itself, there seems to be no rationale. To criminalize drinking coffee or liquor or smoking tobacco would seem absurd, so why is this not so with other drugs?
Many supporters of prohibition claim that if drugs were decriminalized, society would fall into chaos as everyone would become junkies overnight. However, there is little proof that non-users would start using for the lack of the threat of punishment. There is also little proof that prohibition has been the slightest bit effective at preventing or reducing drug use whatsoever.
What IS proven is that prohibition has had a tremendous negative impact on society of its own. Wasted tax dollars, lack of trust in law enforcement and the justice system by the citizenry, racial profiling, spiking incarceration rates, violence stemming from black market transactions, public corruption, and disastrous foreign policy strategy have all been increased by our society's demand to punish non-violent drug users just for getting high. In other words, this issue is central to a whole host of other societal ills that might be reduced or eliminated entirely if we could simply see the failure of our ways.
Husak's writing is dry and analytical, but justly so, as he critically breaks down several popular rationales for maintaining prohibition, poking holes in their paper-thin logic. For supporters and opponents of drug prohibition alike, I would strongly recommend you read this book and take a critical look at an institution which many assume will always be this way. Husak is an optimist and like myself, believes that things may change much more quickly than we expect.
March 22, 2023
I'm in favour of what he's arguing for, but I just got sick of the CONSTANT misleading statements he made. I am just tired of people misusing and misrepresenting statistics. I'd rather read another book. I'm so disappointed since I was really looking forward to this text and thought it would be well researched with references to back it up (like Overdose by Benjamin Perrin) but it wasn't. I value my time so I'm abandoning it.
Maybe when I have more patience for the misleading statements I'll pick it up (because there were some phrases that I liked - it's not ALL bad) but for now I don't want to wade through that in order to get to maybe 3 good points.
dnf at 40%
Maybe when I have more patience for the misleading statements I'll pick it up (because there were some phrases that I liked - it's not ALL bad) but for now I don't want to wade through that in order to get to maybe 3 good points.
dnf at 40%
July 27, 2020
a nice summary of the basic point and rationale of Decriminalizing Drugs. but a caveat is necessary: Husak is not against the regulation of drugs. What he argues in this book is only we need to find a morally good way to regulate it and criminalisation is not.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews