Earth and Fire Erowid on the techniques of using drugs without getting hurt.
Earth and Fire Erowid of Erowid.org. have posted the lead essay in a Cato virtual roundtable on drugs, drug use, drug abuse, and drug policies. Jacob Sullum, Jonathan Caulkins, and I are to be the other participants.
The essay is a gem. Its point is simple: It’s possible to use drugs, whether licit or illicit, more or less safely, and our current policies and social practices don’t help users do so more safely.
I’m going to have a hard time figuring out what to disagree with, other than the obvious point that the volume of damage is determined by the volume of use as well as the level of precaution.
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
View all posts by Mark Kleiman