Heroin addiction often leads to changes in a person’s relationships, lifestyle, physical and psychological health, values, and identity. Some heroin addicts engage in criminal activity to maintain their habit. Heroin addicts are stigmatised by wider society. (5,643 words) *
Should Recreational Drug Use Be Criminalised?
March 14, 2023 by
Douglas Husack provides a cogent analysis of the drug laws debate, focusing on the various reasons that prohibitionists posit for criminalising drug use, as well as the various disadvantages of prohibition. (1,992 words)
Should Recreational Drug Use Be Criminalised?
June 11, 2021 by
Douglas Husak, a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University in the US, combines hard fact and rigorous moral reasoning in his cogent analysis of the drug law debate in his excellent book Legalize This! The case for decriminalising drugs. In this two part series (from Background Briefings section of website), I summarise his arguments to help the reader decide how they feel about the central question of the justice of drug laws. While Husak argues about the situation in the US, much of what is said is relevant to the UK and to many other countries.
Husak points out that we need to ask the right question when looking at drug policy. He emphasises that the onus has always been on those who want to change drug laws to justify why there should be changes. In fact, the onus should be on those who support current policy to justify their position. This rarely happens.
‘On Pharma, Corruption, and Psychiatric Drugs’ by Peter Gøtzsche
March 28, 2014 by
“My studies in this area lead me to a very uncomfortable conclusion: Our citizens would be far better off if we removed all the psychotropic drugs from the market, as doctors are unable to handle them. It is inescapable that their availability creates more harm than good.” Peter Gøtzsche, MD; Co-founder of the Cochrane Collaboration
As shown on Mad in America.
The Road from Crime – Extended Preview
March 10, 2014 by
Excellent preview, I’m heading to watch the full film.
‘What can we learn from those former prisoners who have successfully “desisted” from criminal behaviour or “gone straight?”
The exit at the prison gate often appears to be a revolving door with nearly 60 per cent of released prisoners re-offending within two years of their release. Prisons and probation departments have, almost literally, tried everything in efforts to rehabilitate offenders over the past century, but the results have been uniformly bleak leading many to conclude that “nothing works.”
