Contemporary Drug Policy

Henry H. Brownstein is a Senior Fellow in the Substance Abuse, Mental Health and Criminal Justice Studies Department at NORC at the University of Chicago, USA. For almost 30 years he has been studying drug policy, drugs and crime, and drug markets. He has published several books and dozens of articles and book chapters on topics including drug policy, drugs and violence, drug markets, qualitative research methods, and the relationship between research and policy. He earned his PhD in sociology in 1977 from Temple University, USA.

This book highlights an original approach to the issue of drug policy and the author provides a necessary view on the topic that does not just consider the ‘war on drugs’ approach. Rather than focus on drugs as a problem or people involved with drugs as victims or beneficiaries, the author argues for a critical criminological theoretical approach that views drugs as a part of normal social experience. He argues for a realist approach to drug policy that views drugs in terms of how they can be part of society in ways that enhance rather than diminish the lives of all people. This book provides a valuable addition to an overview of such a worldwide problem and one that provides important new insights on drug policy. Judith Grant, Professor of Political Science and Director of Women's & Gender Studies, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada.

• 1. Informing and guiding drug policy, 2. The debate over control and regulation, 3. The debate over management, 4. The debate over value, 5. Case studies: the unintended consequences of ill-informed policies, 6. False issues, dubious solutions and the need for public discourse.