Drug War Heresies: Learning from Other Vices, Times, and Places

Robert J MacCoun, Peter Reuter

Cambridge University Press, £18.95, pp 496

Rating:

Every week seems to bring a new report on the failure of current drug policy. Rising levels of serious drug problems put new pressures on old systems that can barely cope anyway. Schools, psychiatric hospitals, and prisons continue to face fresh challenges.

People from most walks of life have a view on drug policy and legalisation. The views are not easily cast along old left and right wing political lines.

Europeans generally think that European drug policy has been more pragmatic and sensible that of the United States. Robert MacCoun and Peter Reuter are …