Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs (Practical Ethics Series) - Hardcover

Husak, Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1859846637 ISBN 13: 9781859846636

Publisher: Verso Books, 2002

Synopsis

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 ask: 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.

About this title

About the Author

Douglas Husak is Professor of Philosophy and Law at Rutgers University. He is the author of Drugs and Rights and Philosophy of Criminal Law.

From the Back Cover

In this trenchantly argued book both students and the general public will find a clear statement of the arguments for the decriminalization of recreational drugs. We have long since stopped punishing those who attempt suicide, but recreational drug users are regularly imprisoned, and for what? The financial consequences are enormous, and the human consequences of our current drug policy appalling. Even Judges question the severe mandatory minimum sentences.

The Facts: more money is spent maintaining the prison system in the US than on the educational system; more drug offenders in US jails than the entire EU prison population; more than half of school leavers take drugs - drug prohibition is not working; despite the media claims, the country is not overrun by drug crazed addicts; whilst recreational drugs can be bad for users - between 80 and 90 million people have used illicit drugs with no ill effect.

If politicians from all sides of the political spectrum are now beginning to ask: is it worth it? -
in Husak's exploding of the many myths surrounding drug use, and his examination of the ethical judgements, we find a convincing argument for the decriminalization of drugs.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1859846637
• ISBN 13: 9781859846636
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 200