Suchergebnisse

Henry G. Grabowski and John M. Vernon. The Regulation of Pharmaceuticals: Balancing the Benefits and Risks Meir Statman. Competition in the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Declining Profitability of Drug Innovation Milton Silverman, Philip R. Lee and Mia Lydecker. Prescriptions for Death: The Drugging of the Third World

Heroin is a powerful analgesic, the legalization of which is sometimes proposed as an answer to the pain of terminal cancer. In this country questions about heroin's medicinal potential have been strongly colored by the aura of illicitness and human degradation that surround it. They have not been decided by a rational determination of its therapeutic utility as an analgesic. Adherence to the Puritan ethic has blinded society to the fact that a drug, including heroin, is a chemical compound only that does not carry any intrinsic moral connotations. Studies conducted in England suggest that for certain types of cancer patients, heroin does have advantages over other narcotic analgesics.

The criminal law is concerned with the pursuit of human objectives through the various structures and methods of social organization. Many commands that are embodied in the criminal law appear as prohibitions, which can be satisfied by inaction. "Do not use dangerous drugs" is an example. The thesis of this article is that criminal penalties are inappropriate as a means of achieving conformity to politically-inspired standards of "correct" behavior insofar as the recreational use of cocaine is concerned. As with all prohibitions, the one against cocaine has not worked. A prime argument of the drug prohibitionists, that whatever may be wrong with the present drug laws, they do help to curtail the use of "dangerous" drugs, has not been realized.