A Wiser Course: Ending Drug

Prohibition

A Report of

The Special Committee on Drugs and the Law

of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York

June 14, 1994

1. Introduction
2. The Costs of Prohibition
   1. Distortion of the Judicial System
      1. New York State
      2. Other States
      3. Federal Courts
      4. The Judiciary is Impatient with the Present System
      5. Efforts to Handle Court Congestion
   2. The Prison State
   3. Erosion of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties
   1. Perception of Ineffectiveness
   2. Perception of a Self-Perpetuating System
   3. Police Corruption
   4. Poor Children are Victims of the "War on Drugs"
   5. Selective Prosecution
   6. Erosion of Constitutional Rights
   7. Forfeiture's Heavy Hand
   8. Erosion of Privacy Rights
   1. Prohibition-Induced Violence
   2. Prohibition's Failure to Limit Drug Use
   3. Prohibition Threatens Public Health
   1. Spread of Disease
      1. Sharing Needles
      2. Trading Sex for Drugs
      3. Neglect of Health
      4. Avoidance of the Health-Care System
   2. Lack of Information and Quality Control
   1. Adulterated Drugs, Designer Drugs, and Drugs of Unknown Potency
   2. Lack of Knowledge About Safer Use
   3. Using Alcohol and Tobacco Instead of "Soft Drugs"
   1. Injuries Due to Violence
   2. Diversion of Resources from Treatment and Prevention
   3. The Sense of Treating Drugs as a Public Health Problem
   1. Treatment Works
   2. Self-Help Groups
   3. Therapeutic Communities
   4. Other Inpatient Drug-Free Treatment Programs
   5. Outpatient Methadone Maintenance Programs
   6. Outpatient Drug-Free Therapy
   1. Empirical Research on Effective Drug Treatment
   1. Studies Examining the Effects of Treatment on Substance Use
   2. Studies Examining the Effects of Drug Treatment on the Consequences of Drug Abuse
   1. Education Works
   1. Life Skills Training Program
   2. Students Taught Awareness and Resistance
   3. Project Healthy Choices
   4. Student Assistance Program
   5. Smart Moves
   6. Seattle Social Development Project
   7. Programs for Children of Addicts
3. Toward a New Drug Policy
4. Conclusion

The Report

• nylawyers: ASCII format

The Hearings -  in  ASCII Text format

• * hearings.1.1: October 10, 1995 AM
• * hearings.1.2: October 10, 1995 PM
• * hearings.2.1: October 11, 1995 AM
• * hearings.2.2: October 11, 1995 PM
• * hearings.3.1: October 12, 1995 AM