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Robert MacCoun
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Drug War Heresies: Learning from Other Vices, Times, and Places (RAND Studies in Policy Analysis) 1st Edition

by Robert J. Maccoun (Author)
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
See all formats and editions
This meticulously researched study represents the first effort to provide a nonpartisan and objective analysis of how the United States should approach the drug legalization question. It surveys what is known about the effects of different drug policies in Western Europe and what happened when cocaine and heroin were legal in the US a century ago. The book shows that legalization involves different tradeoffs between health and crime and the interests of the inner city minority communities and the middle class. The book explains why it is so difficult to accomplish substantial reform of drug policy.
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  1. ISBN-10
    052179997X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0521799973
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  5. Publication date
    October 25, 2001
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.98 x 1.12 x 9.02 inches
  8. Print length
    496 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

MacCoun and Reuter, former staff members at the RAND who study drug policy and behavior, have produced one of the largest, most sweeping comparative investigations of the contemporary use, regulation, and policing of various drugs and addictive behaviors, all with an eye to suggesting how the United States might decriminalize certain drugs and rethink public policy toward addictive substances generally. The sheer weight and variety of the authors' evidence, the especially instructive comparisons of addictive behaviors and policies in Western European societies most akin to the United States, and the linking of American policy to punitive antidrug practices in the Third World give the authors' arguments an intellectual heft and force no public discussion on the subject can hereafter ignore. Some readers will not be persuaded by the authors' pointing to the subjective, and even inconclusive, nature of "drug studies." So, too, the comparison of gambling, prostitution, and alcohol consumption with heroin, cocaine, and marijuana use sometimes strains the analysis. But the authors preach common sense rooted in evidence rather than dogma; their temperate tone throughout and their command of the subject make their book anything but a "heresy." Recommended for most collections. Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...an enormously important book. This is especially true because drug policy is a field where tendentiousness prevails, with the exception of a very few other works...for anybody seriously and earnestly concerned about drug policy, it is likely to become indispensible." The Nation

"MacCoun and Reuter's book turns out to be first-rate scholarship. It is an incredibly carefully researched, thoughtful book--far and away the best scholarship I have ever encountered on the subject. This is a book I would recommend to economists interested in researching the area, to those just generally interested in the topic, and to cocktail party bores who mindlessly preach either the necessity of legalization or the inevitability of social ruin if legalization were to occur." Journal of Economic Literature

"...the largest, most sweeping comparative investigations of the contemporary use, regulation, and policing of various drugs and addictive behaviors..." amazon.com

"MacCoun and Reuter offer a refreshing, even unique, overview based more on data than preconceptions, and paying attention to aspects of this important issue that are generaly ignored.... Although no easy answers are offered, there are good and welcome guidelines on how to address the unavoidable difficult questions." Choice

"The book is well written, and it provides a fresh perspective on several options for drug policy. It certainly gives a valuable perspective on these enduring issues." Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (October 25, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 052179997X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521799973
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.47 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 1.12 x 9.02 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

About the author

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Robert MacCoun

Robert MacCoun

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Rob MacCoun is a psychologist and the James and Patricia Kowal Professor of Law at Stanford. From 1986 to 1993 he was a Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation, and from 1993 to 2014, he was a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the School of Law at UC Berkeley. He has conducted basic research on judgment, decision making, and social influence, as well as empirical policy analyses of recreational drug laws and the debate over gays and lesbians in the US military. In 2019, MacCoun received the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award of the Association for Psychological Science, which “honors distinguished APS Members for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to applied psychological research.” For a dozen years, he played jazz guitar in dozens of bars and restaurants for dozens of dollars in tips (split a half dozen ways with his bandmates).

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ray O'Keefe Cruitt
5.0 out of 5 stars An astonishing analysis of the dark side of public policy
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2003
Verified Purchase
This is one of the most comprehensive, objective or "bi-partisan," and current studies available to the general public. Although it is indeed an academic study and is written to influence policymakers, the educated public can easily follow most of the arguments posited by MacCoun and Reuter. Both thinkers have extensive experience in the area of drug policy, both are senior consultants with RAND (Drug Policy Research Center) and have published a considerable amount of literature on the nature of drugs and drug laws. This dynamic text attempts a comparative analysis of vices, such as gambling and prostitution, with that of recreational drug use, including alcohol and tobacco. The purpose of this study is to research whether or not there are any correlations between vices and, if so - can they assist in our understanding of how to regulate drugs and the desires of individuals for drugs. For example, of the kind of comparisons made, is that of prostitution and gambling. Both are legal in Las Vegas, NV - both are thought to be harmful vices, nevertheless, the law has provided a place for them in a legal context - can the same be done for drugs? The text also evaluates extensively, the European models of drug law enforcement and treatment and compares them to America's own models of law and treatment. The authors do not offer any solutions to the drug problem, but what they have done is contribute a comprehensive study with an extensive and diverse amount of data on the subject, something of which has not been achieved as thoroughly as it has been done in this study. The authors also analyze many of the drug reformer's arguments and parse them for consistencies and/or inconsistencies; in the conclusion, they offer a sympathetic gesture to the reformer's contentions because the authors admit to realizing the inanity and harm current drug laws are causing society, but they do so cautiously. They realize that something "must change," but what? and the future can only hold speculations. This book is highly recommended.
Another interesting companion study is the Consumer Reports study that was released in 1972. It is comprehensive and treats the many aspects of the "drug problem" in America. See:
Breacher, Edward M. et al., Licit and Illicit Drugs: the Consumers Union report on narcotics, stimulants, depressants, inhalants, hallucinogens, and marijuana - including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. (Boston: Little Brown, 1972).
10 people found this helpful
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Marcel L.
5.0 out of 5 stars A pioneering work that held the challenge of time
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2012
Verified Purchase
Drug War Heresies was one of the first books to clearly articulate concepts that are now taken for granted by the drug policy reform movement. McCoun and Reuter do an outstanding job at analyzing the premises of drug prohibition and the limits of the repressive approach adopted by the US. The US after all, has the worst substance abuse problem in the world. They navigate through time and places to evaluate other prohibitions or other approaches to human activities deemed objectionable. They contrast the softer European-style approach to the harsh punitive and ultimately costly and destructive US approach. They attempt to evaluate alternative approaches but fail to ultimately take side, although they seem to lean towards a relaxation of current policies without going as far as legalization. We now know that such approach would most likely push the problems unto producing countries and may very well increase the burden in these mostly emerging countries.
One person found this helpful
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ANNE
5.0 out of 5 stars good seller
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2016
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good book with info you won't hear elsewhere. This seller was prompt and I will buy from them again.
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Peter A. Kindle
5.0 out of 5 stars Filled with data-rich insights
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2006
I'll admit that any book with the work heresies in the title has an automatic advantage in peaking my interest, but this volume does so much more than merely entice. MacCoun and Reuter have done an amazing job of looking that drug prohibition from a new point of view. Frankly, despite the passage of a few years, I believe that this book is absolute essential if one hopes to really understand the controversy over the War on Drugs.

Rather than attempt a summary of the contents, let me simply point to three specifics as representative of the wealth of insight the reader will encounter. First, MacCoun and Reuter have expanded the typical dichotomous legalization v criminalization perspectives to include depenalization and commercialization. Counter the arguments of drug prohibitionists, depenalization does not seem to be inextricably intertwined with massive increases in the prevalence of drug use as is anticipated with legalization. Also, legalization may have less negative increases in prevalence without the accompaniment of commercialization. By adding these two considerations, MacCoun and Reuter enable expansion of the debate into potentially fertile areas for improving the consequences of prohibition.

Secondly, the careful analysis of the 48 negative consequences of prohibition and the related causal linkage to enforcement, illegal status, and use should be the focus of careful reflection by every reader. In many respects, the damage caused by the War on Drugs is a kind of collateral damage - unintentionally caused by the implementation of US prohibition efforts.

Thirdly, MacCoun & Reuter reconceptualize the total harmfulness of illicit drugs as the interaction of three factors: prevalence, intensity, and micro harm (i.e., user self-damage). Much of the criticism of drug prohibition deals with the extensive micro harm without equal weight being given to the total harmfulness to our society. The negative correlation between prevalence and micro harm is among the more interesting possibilities to consider.

In summary, it is quite difficult to imagine a more sensitive evaluation of drug prohibition that so carefully considers the US case in light of the European context and the historical experience with legal addictive substances (alcohol and tobacco). I cannot recommend this book more highly.
3 people found this helpful
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David W. Rasmussen
5.0 out of 5 stars Drug War Heresies
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2002
Drug War Heresies may be the best book ever written about modern U.S. drug policy. Written by a psychologist and an economist, the authors draw on attempts to control other substances (such as alcohol prohibition in the U.S.) and exhaustively examine the alternative and experimental European drug policies that most American readers will find particularly useful. The authors are careful to not impose their values and beliefs into their work, instead focusing on the consequences of alternative drug policies. The result is a persuasive case for policy reform in America that is not doctrinaire. Required reading for all who are interested in illicit drug policy in America.
15 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jade O.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2021
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Good book
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