Links to Key books on drug policy reform


Contents:

- UK Drug Policy
- US and International Drug Policy
- Cannabis
- Historical
- Related issues
- Further reading

---UK Drug Policy---

Drugs and the Party Line
Kevin Williamson
Rebel inc. 1997
ISBN: 0 86241 761 9
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• An informed and accessible book looking at the issues surrounding recreational drugs in the UK, and the need for reforms in policy and law. Good detail on Scottish drug policy, history of prohibition, and heroin policy.

• A more academic examination of the arguments for and against legalisation. Features contributions from Julius Merry, Peter Reuter, Micheal Farrel, and John Strang.

• Accurate account of what we know about recreational drugs. Includes details on the effects and dangers of individual drugs as well as good policy analysis and discussion.

• Detailed look at the public health and crime reduction benefits of effective regulation of the heroin market, by former Chief Constable Francis Wilkinson (also wrote the leaf and the law – see below).

The Oxford Handbook of Criminology
Edited by Mike Maguire, Rod Morgan and Robert Reiner
Oxford University Press 2000 3 rd edition
ISBN: 0199249377
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• A comprehensive and authoritative single volume guide to the criminology: combining expert reviews of key topics including crime statistics, the criminal justice process, race and gender, drugs and the media. It contains extensive references to aid further research, a history of the discipline, reviews of theoretical perspectives.

• Written by a multi-disciplinary group of experts, this book aims to stimulate informed debate about the possible alternatives to current failings .

High Time for Reform: Drug Policy for the 21 st Centuary
Edited by Selina Chen and Edward Skidelsky.
Social Market Foundation 2001
ISBN: 1874097895
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• A collection of ten critical essays on UK and international drug policy by a range of experts from the fields of history, psychiatry, social policy, philosophy and economics. It brings to bear a range of innovative ideas and perspectives on the problems facing Britain’s policy on drugs.

Drugs and Crime
Phillip Bean
Willan Publishing 2004
ISBN: 1843920972
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• Britain has a massive drug problem, and a high proportion of crimes committed are drugs-related. Attempts to talk away the problem, for example, through legalizing cannabis, do not face up to the main question, nor would they reduce its use or remove the illicit suppliers. Whilst we can choose the types of controls, we cannot choose whether or not to have a drug problem. This book addresses a range of issues associated with drugs-related crime, providing an authoritative and accessible introduction to the subject. It focuses on drug markets, violence within those markets, policing, and the use of coercive treatment through the criminal justice system. It should be useful reading for anybody with an interest in drugs and crime.

Drugs: Cultures, Controls & Everyday life
Nigel South
Sage 1998
ISBN: 0761952357
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• An overview of drugs and society. Topics addressed include: the debate over prohibition versus legalization; drug and dance cultures; drug use amongst young women; images of "race" and drugs; the strategy of policing drugs and controlling drug users; and drug control and sport.

From War to Work: Drug treatment, social inclusion and enterprise
Rowena Young
The Foreign Policy Centre 2002
ISBN: 1903558077
Link: www.amazon.co.u k

• A detailed examinations of the drugs issue presenting a vision of how drug use can be safely managed, based on lessons from around the world.

• This book moves beyond this single issue approach and locates illicit drug use in its wider context, with chapters on: the history of illicit drug use measuring the 'problem' legal and medical responses to illicit drug use the illicit drugs market drugs, crime and trends in drug policy. Drawing information from wide-ranging sources, Adrian Barton illuminates the complex nature and broad impact illicit drug use carries in its wake and provides an overview of the contemporary state of the drug 'scene'. This book will be essential reading for students and researchers working in the area of drugs and society.

---US and international drug policy---

Drugs, Trafficking and Criminal Policy: The scapegoat strategy
Penny Green
Waterside press 1998
ISBN 1 872 870 33 3
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• Academic examination of international drug trafficking, and the failure of enforcement. focuses on scapegoating low level players.

A well told account of the US drug war.

• Another well researched and argued critique of the US war on drugs.

White-out: The CIA, Drugs and the Press
Alexander Cockburn & Jeffrey St.Clair
Verso 1999
ISBN 1-85984-258-5
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• An astonishing book that gives a detailed chronicle of the involvement of the CIA in various covert operations involving drugs, including links with the mob, former Nazi’s, Afgan heroin lords, and Colombian cocaine barons. Exhaustively researched and referenced to silence any “cries” of conspiracy theory. Also examines CIA efforts to silence the media and stifle critical coverage.

• Academic examination of international drug trafficking and the failure of enforcement. Focuses on the scapegoating of low level players.

Drug War Heresies
Robert MacCoun, Peter Reuter
Cambridge University Press 2001
ISBN: 052179997X (or hardcover 0521572630)
Link: www.amazon.co.u k - available to download also

• This book provides the first multi-disciplinary and non-partisan analysis of how the United States should decide on the legal status of, cocaine, heroine, and marijuana.

• Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why a War on Drugs and Just Say No can never work, and why some people become addicted to drugs while others do not.

• Twelve versions of papers given at a similarly titled conference held at the Cato Institute. Wide variety of chapters from “The War the Police Didn’t Declare and Can’t Win” to “Effects of the Drug War”.
  

---Cannabis---

• A thorough review of the scientific evidence on cannabis related harm that challenges many of the “reefer madness” myths used to support an unjust and unworkable drug policy.

• The classic history of cannabis prohibition.

• Detailed analysis of current cannabis policy, how we got here and the options for reform, from the former Chief Constable of Gwent. Includes analysis of international conventions.
  

---Historical---

• A brilliant history of the origins of modern prohibitionist drug policy. A fascinating account of drug culture before prohibition.

The Pursuit of Oblivion
Richard Davenport-Hines
Phoenix Press 2001
ISBN: 0753813718
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• "Intoxication is neither unnatural nor deviant,"quotes Hines, prizewinning writer and regular TLS contributor, at the start of his compendious chronicle, The Pursuit of Oblivion. This pretty much sums up his objective take on drug consumption although he is far less impartial on the policies surrounding the trade and legislation of the drugs industry. This fascinating book examines the history of changing Western social attitudes to drugs, their place in our culture and what they reflect of it.
  

Dirty Dealing
Peter Lilley
Kogen Page LTD 2000
ISBN: 0749440341
Link: www.kogan-page.co.uk or www.amazon.co.uk

Dirty Dealing is the first book to truly expose the awesome scale and scope of global money laundering and its infiltration into the world's legitimate business structures. Peter Lilley lifts the lid on this murky and frightening underworld to reveal how highly organised and sophisticated criminal organisations and terrorist groups are seriously undermining the economies of many countries, their financial systems, governments and businesses. Full of incredible stories, facts and figures, it has been extensively revised and includes information on:

• the funding of international terrorism;
• major national and international criminal groups;
• the impact of the Internet and 'cyber laundering';
• anti-money laundering strategies for all types of businesses.

Potology
Dr Nuke
Lifeline 1995
ISBN: 0952008211
Link: www.lifeline.org.uk/

• Refreshingly frank, open and honest. Brilliantly illustrated and combines humour and fact to assist in the process of drug education and awareness. Also see Tripology and Whizzology.

PiHKAL
Alexander Shulgin & Ann Shulgin
Transform Press 1991
ISBN: 0963009605
Link: www.amazon.co.uk

• This courageous and compelling book…provides a marvellous glimpse of altered states of consciousness and a unique opportunity to become acquainted with two exceptional lovers and fearless psychonauts.

Ecstacy Reconsidered
Nicholas Saunders
Nicholas Saunders 1997
ISBN: 0953006506
Link: www.ecstasy.org/

• This book is all about ecstasy, and includes everything from funny stories to serious academic research.
  

---Further Reading---

Informing America's Policy on Illegal Drugs:What We Don't Know Keeps Hurting Us (2001) http://www.nap.edu/books/0309072735/html/ )

US National Academies of Science Committee on Data and Research for Policy on Illegal Drugs.

“Overall the committee finds that the existing drug use monitoring systems and programs of research are useful for some important purposes, yet they are strikingly inadequate to support the full range of policy decisions that the nation must make. The central problem is a woeful lack of investment in programs of data collection and empirical research that would enable evaluation of the nations investment in drug law enforcement”

This comprehensive (380 pages – executive summary recommended) report from the National Academies of Science Committee on Data and Research for Policy on Illegal Drugs examines the shortcomings in drug policy research and evaluation in the US, concluding that the poor situation has not improved for 20 years. It is interesting to note that these critiques are made despite the US spending substantially more than the UK (as % of the total drug budget) on drug research and data collection. The entire book is available from the link above.

Please send suggested additions too: info@tdpf.org.uk

The organisations, agencies, and information linked from www.tdpf.org.uk represent a variety of viewpoints from across the drug policy field. Transform is not responsible for the contents of sites linked on this page, and does not automatically endorse linked information.