Drug_policy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Drug policy Drug policy A drug policy most often refers to a government’s attempt to combat the negative effects of drug addiction in its society. Governments try to combat drug addiction with policies which address both the demand and supply of drugs, as well as policies which can mitigate the harms of drug abuse. Demand reduction measures include prohibition, fines for drug offenses, incarceration for persons convicted for drug offenses, treatment (such as voluntary rehabilitation or coercive care[1] for drug abusers), awareness campaigns, community social services, and support for families. Supply side reduction involves measures such as enacting foreign policy aimed at eradicating the international cultivation of plants used to make drugs and interception of drug trafficking. Policies which may help mitigate the effects of drug abuse include needle exchange and drug substitution programs, as well as free facilities for testing a drug’s purity. station Triple J often refers to drug use with a neutral sentiment, rarely discouraging their use. Many take this neutrality as an encouragement to use drugs, and a feeling of drug use being acceptable in Australia. However, there is law enforcement targeting drugs for ex. in traffic[3] or in the party scene. Netherlands See also: Drug policy of the Netherlands Drug policy in the Netherlands is based on the two principles that drug use is a health issue, not a criminal issue, and that there is a distinction between hard and soft drugs. The Netherlands is currently the only country to have implemented a wide scale, but still regulated, decriminalisation of marijuana. Importing and exporting of any classified drug is a serious offence. The penalty can run up to 12 to 16 years if it is hard drug trade, maximum 4 years for import or export of large quantities of cannabis. Investment in treatment and prevention of drug addiction is high when compared to the rest of the world. Netherlands spends significant more per capita than all other countries in EU on drug law enforcement, 75% of drug related public spending is law enforcement. Drug use remains at average Western European levels and slightly lower than in English speaking countries. Drug Policy by country Australia See also: Illicit drug use in Australia There is a movement in Australia to make some substances decriminalised, particularly cannabis, making the possession of such a non-convictable offence in most states (however, the definition of what constitutes possession can differ between states). As a result of the decriminalisation, the punishments for drug use and drug dealing in Australia are typically very small, with many convicted small-time drug dealers not having to spend any time in jail. In 2007 reported a federal parliamentary committee that it has found the Government’s harm-minimization policy is not effective enough. It has recommended a zero-tolerance approach for drug education in schools. The committee also wants the law changed so children can be put into mandatory treatment for drug addiction.[2] There is an associated pro-drugs culture amongst a significant number of young Australians. The popular national youth radio Sweden See also: Drug policy of Sweden and Nils Bejerot Sweden’s drug policy has gradually turned from lenient in the 1960s with a emphasis on drug supply towards a policy of zero tolerance against all illicit drug use (including cannabis). The official aim is a drug free society. Drug use itself became a punishable crime in 1988, but drug users have been of priority since the early eighties. Prevention includes wide spread drug testing, and the penalties range from fines for minor drug offenses up to a 10 year prison sentence for aggravated offenses. The condition for suspended sentences could be regular drug tests or submission to rehabilitation treatment. Drug 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia treatment is free of charge and provided through the health care system and the municipal social services. Drug usage that threatens the health and development of minors could force them into mandatory treatment if they don’t apply voluntary. If the usage threatens the immediate health or the security of others (such as a child of a addict) the same could apply to adults. Among 9th year students, drug experimentation was highest in the early 1970s, falling towards a low in the late 1980s, redoubling in the 1990s to stabilize and slowly decline in 2000s. Estimates of heavy drug addicts have risen from 6000 in 1967 to 15000 in 1979, 19000 in 1992 and 26000 in 1998. According to inpatient data, there were 28000 such addicts in 2001 and 26000 in 2004, but these last two figures may represent the recent trend in Sweden towards outpatient treatment of drug addicts rather than an actual decline in drug addictions.[4] The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that Sweden has one of the lowest drug usage rates in the Western world, and attributes this to a drug policy that invests heavily in prevention and treatment as well as strict law enforcement.[5] The general drug policy is supported by all political parties and, according to the opinion polls, the restrictive approach receives broad support from the public.[6][7] The UNODC report, has been criticized for being unscientific and fundamentally biased in favor of repressive drug laws, and that no causal connection has been shown to exist between Sweden’s drug use statistics and it is drugs policy.[8] Drug policy punishment for possession and dealing varies on amount and type. Punishment for marijuana possession is light in most states, but punishment for dealing and possession of hard drugs can be severe, and has contributed to the growth of the prison population. US drug policy is also heavily invested in foreign policy, supporting military and paramilitary actions in South America, Central Asia, and other places to eradicate the growth of coca and opium. In Columbia, U.S. president Bill Clinton dispatched military and paramilitary personnel to interdict the planting of coca, as a part of the Plan Colombia. The project is often criticized for its ineffectiveness and its negative impact on local farmers. President George W. Bush intensified anti-drug efforts in Mexico, initiating the Mérida Initiative, but has faced criticisms for similar reasons. See also • Arguments for and against drug prohibition • Controlled substance • Decriminalization • Demand reduction • Drug abuse • Drug addiction • Drug court • Drug liberalization • Drug paraphernalia • Drug policy reform • Drug possession • Decriminalization • Drug Policy Alliance • Drug test • Hard and soft drugs • Harm reduction • Illegal drug trade • Just Say No • Law Enforcement Against Prohibition • List of indices of freedom • Legal history of marijuana in the United States • Legal issues of cannabis • Marijuana Policy Project • Mexican Drug War • National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws • Office of National Drug Control Policy • Politics of drug abuse • Prohibition (drugs) • Recreational drug use • Students for Sensible Drug Policy Switzerland The national drug policy of Switzerland was developed in the early 1990s and comprises the four elements of prevention, therapy, harm reduction and prohibition. [9] Political initiatives in the 1990s and 2000s to make Swiss drug policy either more permissive or more restrictive, including through national popular initiatives, have been unsuccessful. United States See also: Drug policy of the United States Modern US drug policy is still largely based on the war on drugs started by president Richard Nixon in 1972. In the United States, illegal drugs fall into different categories and 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • • • • • • Supply and demand School district drug policies Transform Drug Policy Foundation United Nations Drug Control Programme War on drugs Zero Tolerance Drug policy • Setting goals for drug policy: harm or use reduction? • Prohibition, pragmatism and drug policy repatriation • Challenging the UN drug control conventions: problems and possibilities • The Economics of Drug Legalization • Britain on drugs (journal article) • Laws and the Construction of Drug- and Gender-Related Violence in Central America by Peter Peetz References [1] Tännsjö, T. (1999), Coercive Care, http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en [2] ABC News: Govt drug policy ’should be zero-tolerance’ Thu Sep 13, 2007 [3] ABC News: ACT Govt planning to introduce roadside drug testing Thu May 1, 2008 [4] CAN:Drug Trends in Sweden 2007, page 7-11 [5] UNODC: Sweden’s successful drug policy, 2007 [6] European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction: National report Sweden, 2006 [7] NATIONAL DRUG POLICY: SWEDEN Prepared for The Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, Canada 2002. [8] Peter Cohen: Looking at the UN, smelling a rat: A comment on ‘Sweden’s successful drug policy: a review of the evidence’ UNODC september 2006 [9] Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. "Drug policy". http://www.bag.admin.ch/ themen/drogen/00042/00624/ index.html?lang=en. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. External links • Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy Full text of major government commission reports on the drug laws from around the world over the last 100 years • Cato Institute Drug Prohibition Research • Nobel Prize in Economics winner Milton Friedman interviewed about his opposition to the War on Drugs • The Report of the Canadian Government Commission of Inquiry into the NonMedical Use of Drugs—1972 • National Drug Threat Assessment 2006 from the United States Department of Justice • Drug Policy Alliance • EMCDDA - Decriminalisation in Europe? Recent developments in legal approaches to drug use. • European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD) • Frontline: drug wars by PBS • 10 Downing Street’s Strategy Unit Drugs Report • Transform Drug Policy Foundation • The Drug War as a Socialist Enterprise by Milton Friedman • National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws • Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) Academic articles • Re-thinking drug control policy - Historical perspectives and conceptual tools by Peter Cohen • Policy from a harm reduction perspective (journal article) • Global drug prohibition: its uses and crises (journal article) • Should cannabis be taxed and regulated? (journal article) • Shifting the main purposes of drug control: from suppression to regulation of use Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy" Categories: Drug control law 3 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Drug policy This page was last modified on 29 April 2009, at 00:12 (UTC). 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