The Drug Policy Debate

Legalization? Decriminalization? Prohibition?

The Opinion Page

Conservatives on Prohibition -- For all those who thought that drug policy reform was a liberal cause - here are numerous statements from leading conservatives. This section is maintained by Jim Rosenfield.

The Miranda Devine Page -- Miranda Devine, columnist for the The Sydney Morning Herald & The Sun-Herald, in Australia, wrote a column in March, 2003 in which she claimed that alcohol prohibition during the 1920s in the US was a success. She cited documents in the Schaffer Library as proof. You compare the evidence available in the Schaffer Library and see whether she was right.

Recent Comments on the War on Drugs - 25 pages of extracts from current books on various topics related to the War on Drugs.

Letter from Dear Abby Dear Abby says she supports the Hoover Resolution.

Letter from Bob Dole saying he does not oppose an objective study of our drug laws.

The Drug Legalization Debate: What's the Real Issue? By Clifford A. Schaffer

Dispatch from the Drug War by Peter H. King

Why we should legalize drugs by Benson B. Roe, MD, Professor Emeritus and former Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of California at San Francisco.

The Effects of Legalization From "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do", by Peter McWilliams. It is a discussion between William F. Buckley, Jr. and Professor Gazzaniga (the Andrew W. Thompson Jr. Professor of Psychiatry [Neuroscience] at Dartmouth Medical School) which was originally published in the February 5, 1990, issue of the National Review.

Perspectives On Drugs - How Legalization Would Cut Crime The no-win 'drug war' keeps driving up the price. Users commit crimes to cover the cost. The public is the loser. By Steven B. Duke.

Dethrone the Drug Czar by Whitman Knapp, Federal Judge.

Testimony of NY State Corrections Commissioner Thomas A. Coughlin

This is the testimony of the New York State Commissioner of Corrections before the New York State Legislature regarding the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Simply put, he thinks the current drug policy is a dumb idea.

Should We Re-Legalize Drugs? A statement by the Libertarian Party of America

Why Do We Make Major Problems out of Minor Drugs of Abuse?, by Frederick H. Meyers, M.D., Professor of Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, CA

Drug wars: Menace to America by Tod Mikuriya, M.D.

Medicalization of Drug Abuse Control: Pharmacy Based Voluntary Drug Users Co-operatives A Proposal by Tod H. Mikuriya. M.D.

Why is There a 'War on Drugs? by Dave Haans

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.

Interview with Milton Friedman on Drug Prohibition

The War on Drugs is Self-Defeating, by Jack B. Weinstein, Judge, US District Court

The Drug War and the Constitution, by Paul Hager

Crime and the Drug War, by Kirby Cundiff, Ph.D.

Drug War: Dunkirk or Desert Storm

Radio Debate on Home Drug Testing Kit

STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS MARIJUANA PROHIBITION 1937-1997 A report prepared by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the "Marijuana Tax Act of 1937."

Opinion Pieces by Judge James P. Gray

It's Time for a New Battle Plan in the Losing War on Drugs, by Judge James P. Gray

An Open Letter to the Drug Czar by Judge James P. Gray

A View from the Front Lines of the Drug War by Judge Volney Brown -- A response to Judge Gray's Open Letter to the Drug Czar, by one of the top leaders of the fight against drugs from the Nixon Administration. Quite an interesting response.

Darkening Shades of the Drug War: Brown Vs. Gray - Address of The Honorable James P. Gray , Orange County Superior Court Judge, State of California, at the Crime, Drugs, Health & Prohibition II Conference, Harvard Law School, May 21, 1994

Keep Doin' What We're Doin'? No, We Must Reassess Our Drug Policy By Judge James P. Gray

Drugs and the Law by James P. Gray, Orange County Superior Court, California Courts Commentary

Opinion Pieces by Thomas L. Wayburn, Ph.D.

The Case for Drug Legalization and Decontrol in the United States by Thomas L. Wayburn, Ph.D.

Fallacies and Unstated Assumptions in Prevention and Treatment by Thomas L. Wayburn, PhD

A Review of the 1990 Drug Policy Foundation Conference by Thomas L. Wayburn, PhD

A Seven-point Post-Prohibition Policy by Thomas L. Wayburn, PhD

Can the State Teach that Drugs are Wrong and Harmful? by Thomas L. Wayburn, PhD

Despite Recent Flurry of Anti-Drug Propaganda, Drug Prohibition is Indefensible by Thomas L. Wayburn, PhD

Two Crucial Issues in the Argument for Drug Legalization by Dr. Thomas L Wayburn, Executive Director, American Policy Institute, Inc.

The Trouble with Surveys by Thomas L. Wayburn, PhD

Junior Goes to School by Thomas L. Wayburn, PhD

A Review of Drug Legalization, For and Against