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Prevalence estimation has a potentially important role in drug policy decision making. To date, however, it has played only a modest role in decisions at the national level, though it has come to be important in the rhetoric of national drug policy. This limited influence arises from the limited capacities and credibility of the estimates on the one hand and the highly moralistic nature of the policy process surrounding the illicit drug issue on the other. The available numbers are developed either systematically from data sources that have low credibility (self-report) or are developed less systematically from sources that simply are not well understood. Estimates of the number of problematic drug users are most likely to have a significant role in policy making in the near future.

Efforts to reduce cocaine production and exports from the Andean region continue to be an important component of U.S. drug control efforts. This article presents a simple economic analysis of the effects of major source-country control programs: eradication, crop substitution, and refinery destruction. When account is taken of the structure of prices in the cocaine industry and the ability of farmers and refiners to make behavioral adaptations, none of these programs has much prospect for affecting the flow of cocaine to the United States. Despite the continued failure of the programs and the analytic arguments against them, they continue to flourish budgetarily; they are protected by the rhetorical claims of the past, the need to appear to have a complete portfolio of programs, and the sheer momentum of drug control expenditures.

EFFORTS TO REDUCE COCAINE PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS FROM THE ANDEAN REGION CONTINUE TO BE AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF U.S. DRUG CONTROL EFFORTS. THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS A SIMPLE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF MAJOR SOURCE-COUNTRY CONTROL PROGRAMS: ERADICATION, CROP SUBSTITUTION, AND REFINERY DESTRUCTION. WHEN THE STRUCTURE OF PRICES IN THE COCAINE INDUSTRY AND THE ABILITY OF FARMERS AND REFINERS TO MAKE BEHAVIORAL ADAPTATIONS ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT, NONE OF THESE PROGRAMS HAS MUCH PROSPECT FOR AFFECTING THE FLOW OF COCAINE TO THE UNITED STATES. DESPITE THE CONTINUED FAILURE OF THE PROGRAMS AND THE ANALYTIC ARGUMENTS AGAINST THEM, THEY CONTINUE TO FLOURISH BUDGETARILY; THEY ARE PROTECTED BY THE RHETORICAL CLAIMS OF THE PAST, THE NEED TO APPEAR TO HAVE A COMPLETE PORTFOLIO OF PROGRAMS, AND THE SHEER MOMENTUM OF DRUG CONTROL EXPENDITURES.

This article examines problems presented to the police by their gambling enforcement responsibilities during the four decades following Prohibition's repeal. In this period repeated gambling corruption scandals put the police in disrepute. These scandals accurately reflected the underlying corruption of an effort that was essentially symbolic and not supported by a significant element of the otherwise law-abiding population. The fundamental source of the corruption was the vulnerability of all illegal gambling organizations to police harassment. This corruption also contributed to organized crime's dominance in illegal gambling. The federal government mounted a major campaign against illegal gambling between 1962 and 1972. That effort failed to reduce the availability of gambling services but may have helped reduce the dominance of organized crime by depriving local police of their ability to franchise monopolies. Together with changing attitudes toward gambling, the entry of the state into many gambling markets, and changes in the nature of the games themselves, the federal enforcement effort helped end the era in which gambling enforcement was a major responsibility for the police.