How Goes the “War on Drugs”? An Assessment of U.S. Drug Problems and Policy

Abstract

Presents a concise, accessible, objective view of where the United States has been, now stands, and is going in the future in its long “war on drugs.” The authors assess the success of drug policies to date and review possible reasons why they have not been more successful. They recommend management of the drug problem for the long term, use of different policy levers depending on the situation, and tolerance of cross-state policy variation.