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ABSTRACTThis study explores the rationality of drug policy. It proposes a cybernetic relationship between actual drug severity, public salience of the drug problem, and anti‐drug funding. The study hypothesizes that increases in the severity of the drug problem will cause an increase in the salience of the drug issue. Increased salience in turn leads to political pressure and increased drug funding. As funding increases, anti‐drug programs become more robust and effective and drug severity decreases. When severity decreases, salience should in turn decrease. And so on. To test the cybernetic model, the study correlates trends of drug data from 1970 through 1996. It finds significant correlation between drug severity, measured by hospital emergency room drug episodes, and drug salience, measured by media coverage of drug events. The study finds correlations of drug funding and severity to be ambiguous, and finds no correlation between drug funding and drug salience. The findings do not support the overall hypothesis of a rational, cybernetic process but offer insights on drug policy dynamics.

published_or_final_version ; Politics and Public Administration ; Master ; Master of Public Administration

Until recently, Norway remained immovable on its conservative policy that illegal drug use is a crime. In 2018, the Health Minister appointed an inquiry commission to design a less restrictive drug policy, which included two "drug user representatives." But the Minister's choices for these posts met massive dissatisfaction from some drug users who contended that the representatives "are not real drug users" and do not "speak for" nor "act on the behalf" of their experiences and opinions. They mobilized to establish an alternative organization, the Shadow Committee, to propose a drug policy reform shaped by "the user voices" and "not polluted by political compromises." Yet, while performing a labor of difference, this committee, too, became caught in conflicting landscapes of representation with some members contesting strategic solidarity. Based on this case, and an ethnographic fieldwork among the protesters, this article investigates the concept of representation as understood, contested and applied by "drug users." Exploring how they relate to "user voices" and question the authenticity of some of "user representatives," I highlight how changing political landscapes affect understandings of representation and shape political, individual and collective forms of involvement. I draw on Pitkin's political philosophy and apply the classical categorization of political representation to suggest reconsidering the governing assumptions regarding "user representatives" that increasingly inform drug and treatment policies in Norway. I ask if the concept of representation itself may be a barrier to meaningful involvement. ; publishedVersion

Recent increases in the prevalence of non-medical prescription drug use across the United States have prompted national concern about the sources of these drugs. The focus of this study is the process by which prescription drugs enter the United States from Mexico through "drug tourism." Drug tourism refers to the phenomenon by which persons become attracted to a particular location because of the accessibility of licit or illicit drugs and related services. A loophole in U.S. Customs laws enables Americans to legally bring pharmaceutical drugs into the United States when accompanied by a Mexican prescription. Using ethnographic field methods, this study (1) describes the acquisition process, (2) develops a typology of consumers, and (3) explores the interaction between the actors in this process. This study provides a better understanding of the social dynamics of a "gray market" in prescription drugs, and identifies a hidden population of drug users.

A memoir of intoxication like no other, On Drugs explores Chris Fleming's experience of drug addiction, which begins while he is a student before escalating into a life-threatening compulsion. A philosopher by training, Fleming combines meticulous observation of his life with a keen sense of the absurdity of his actions. He describes the intricacies of drug use and acquisition, their impact on the intellect and emotions, and the chaos that emerges as his tightly managed existence unravels into arrests, hospitalisations and family breakdown. His account is accompanied by searching reflections on his childhood, during which he developed acute obsessive compulsive disorder and became fixated on martial arts, music-making and bodybuilding. In confronting the pathos and comedy of drug use, On Drugs also opens out into meditations on the self and its deceptions, on popular culture, religion and mental illness, and the tortuous path to recovery

Engaging, articulate, and brilliantly argued, On Drugs is destined to become a revolutionary classic that redefines what it means to be "high." Calling for the acceptance of a "diversity of consciousness," Lenson delivers a searing critique of the War on Drugs as an effort based, like all attempts to eradicate "getting high," on an incomplete understanding of human nature

"The Encyclopedia of Drug Policy, with a target publication date of 2011, marks the 40th anniversary of the longest "war" in American history. In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon declared drugs "public enemy number one" and waged the War on Drug after tests on returning Vietnam War veterans revealed alarming levels of heroin use. Spanning two volumes of approximately 450 articles in an A-to-Z format, the encyclopedia explores this controversial war through the lens of varied disciplines, and a full spectrum of articles explains topics from Colombian cartels and Mexican kingpins to television reportage; from "just say no" advertising to heroin production; from narco-terrorism to over $500 billion in U.S. government expenditures. These articles, a range of pedagogical elements in the front matter and back matter, and availability in both print and electronic formats combine to comprise an outstanding reference source for students and the general public"--

En este artículo se presenta el estado actual de las cuestiones relacionadas con la producción, comercialización y consumo de cocaína en el panorama americano. Según las cifras publicada por organizaciones internacionales gubernamentales y no gubernamentales, la producción total de cocaína no ha disminuido significativamente en los últimos 4 décadas, las tasas de homicidio y de violencia vinculados al crimen organizado aumentaron en los países con mayor flujo de cocaína y, en la última década, ha incrementado el porcentaje de consumidores en América Latina. Existe un interés creciente de los Estados Americanos en la evaluación de las estrategias de la lucha contra las drogas y en discutir nuevas estrategias que se aparten o sean alternativa al discurso de criminalización que ha caracterizado hasta ahora la guerra contra las drogas y que no ha lograr un cambio significativo. Basándose en un estudio exploratorio del informe presentado por la OEA en mayo de 2013, y en un análisis de los posicionamientos de los gobernantes del continente acerca de las drogas, se sugiere que las organizaciones gubernamentales regionales, como UNASUR son el lugar ideal para proponer, debatir e implementar nuevas estrategias que corresponden a los problemas sociales del contexto regional.Abstract: This article describes the current status of issues related to production, marketing and consumption of cocaine in the Americas. According to figures published by international governmental and non-governmental organizations, the total cocaine production has not decreased significantly over the last four decades, rates of homicide and violence linked to organized crime have increased in countries with greater flow of cocaine, and in the last decade the percentage of consumers in Latin America has increased. There is a growing interest of American States in assessing strategies to combat drugs and to discuss new strategies that depart or become an alternative to the discourse of criminalization that has characterized the war on drugs and without achieving a significant change. Based on an exploratory study of the report of the OAS in May 2013, and on the analysis of the positions of the rulers of the continent about drugs, this paper suggests that regional governmental organizations such as UNASUR are the ideal locus to propose, debate and implement new strategies to respond the production, commercialization and use of drugs, linked to social, politic and economic problems of the regional context.