The Drug Policy Debate

Legalization? Decriminalization? Prohibition?

This page contains information regarding the debate over drug policy. Should we legalize? Decriminalize? Build bigger prisons? The viewpoints of the various sides are represented here.

Contents

Submissions Invited -- Got something new to add? Read this.

Debate Manuals - Manuals for debating the issue from various points of view.

The Competition - Web sites of people who don't agree with us.

The Chicken Page - The "chickens" who are afraid to debate this in public.

The Opinion Page - Opinions are like ----, everybody's got one. I have made an effort to select some of the best.

Submissions Invited

We are making a genuine effort to present the best arguments we can find for every point of view. We have done extensive work and research to locate the best of our opponents' arguments and present them here, along with any evidence offered in support of those arguments. We have also, in many cases, provided direct line-for-line rebuttals of those arguments. We invite all readers to submit

• any argument we have not properly covered,
• their arguments in favor of their point of view, and
• any evidence they have to support their statements.

Send submissions to: cliff_schaffer@yahoo.com Please read all of the information on these pages before you submit.

The Chicken Page - Wherein we list our opponents who, so far, have been too "chicken" to come out for an open and honest debate on drug policy. What's the problem folks? Why can't we just talk about this?

Debate Manuals

In this section, we present the manuals prepared by the opposing sides for debating this issue. Of course, my personal opinion is that we have better manuals and arguments than our opponents do, but we invite you to read them all and make your own judgment.

The Persuasive Strategies - Answers to Specific Questions - Showstopper Questions - These are the debate strategies which blew the drug warriors out of the debate so badly that the DEA felt compelled to hold a conference in August, 1994, to write the following book.

Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization -- This is the DEA debate manual which was written in response to the success of the Persuasive Strategies. It was originally titled "How to Hold Your Own in a Drug Legalization Debate," but the title was changed because the first title seemed to assume they would get their butts kicked no matter what and the best they could hope to do is survive. This copy of the DEA debate manual includes my line by line rebuttal. The full text of the DEA manual can also be found on the DEA home page.

Drug Legalization: Myths and Misconceptions by the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration

The Wrong Message Of Legalizing Illicit Drugs This is a pamphlet put out by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America which basically states that it is wrong to talk about drug policy reform because even talking about it encourages drug use. Now even ordinary discussion has become dangerous.

The Competition

DEA Home Page -- For more information, see also DRCNet Response to the DEA Home Page

LAI.

Hassela Nordic Network.

Dr. Kim Edward Light's Home Page - Dr. Light presents some short, poorly documented, and fundamentally illogical arguments against "legalization" (he seems to have his own definition for "legalization" which doesn't quite match up with what I have heard other people suggest). We will soon be posting point-by-point rebuttals to his statements, complete with links to the full text of relevant documents which contradict what he says.

Drug Watch International - This is one of the larger international organizations devoted to supporting the war on drugs. I have had personal communications with Rev. David Noffs, who first started his communications with me by stating that I was the kind of person they are trying to protect their children against. He said this when the only thing he knew about me was an e-mail I had sent him asking him to join us in an open debate on the subject. When I told him that an intelligent debate requires that people not engage in random character attacks against people they never even met, he quit responding.

The Resolution for a Federal Commission on Drug Policy