“All politicians lie.” How often have you heard that line?
I just watched a TV news segment about the FDA’s decision to ban OTC cold-symptom medicines for children under six.
The Big Pharma flack said the ban was unjustified because the medicines are safe for children over 2. (The reporter had just mentioned that OTC cold remedies send 7000 children a year to the emergency room.) The reporter said, “But are they effective?” The flack replied, “We know they’re effective, because people buy them.”
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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