Cardozo Public Law, Policy and Ethics Journal
Abstract
The article argues that criminal prohibition of drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, causes significant harms such as public health crises, violent criminal activity, and civil liberties violations. It challenges predictions that legalization would lead to greatly increased drug use or harm, citing evidence that other factors, such as availability and social stigma, play a larger role in drug use decisions. The author advocates for ending prohibition and replacing it with regulation and public health programs tailored to each drug, emphasizing that legalization could reduce both individual and societal harm.
Disciplines
Evidence | Food and Drug Law | Law
Recommended Citation
David Borden,
If Hard Drugs Were Legalized, Would More People Use Them?,
12
Cardozo Pub. L. Pol’y & Ethics J.
569
(2014).
Available at:
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cplpej/vol12/iss3/2