Introduction: Drug courts in operation

Abstract

This introduction to the volume on drug treatment courts reviews, in brief, the history of the nation’s recent “war on drugs,” underscoring oscillations between punitive and rehabilitation emphases with particular focus on the history of drug courts as a principal treatment alternative that integrates both rehabilitation and punitive aspects. Data on the extent both of drug use and abuse and of arrests for illicit use and abuse are reviewed, and the contents of the volume are adumbrated. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: © 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.].