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- Volume 67, Presented On: October 18, 2012
- Visit Full Debate Page
From the Panel
For: PAUL BUTLER
- Q&A with Paul Butler
Jamie Loo interviews Paul Butler, Post-Exchange, April 8, 2010Paul Butler, author of ‘Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice,’ talks about jury nullification, and current issues in the war on drugs and criminal justice with Post-Exchange reporter Jamie Loo. - Jury Nullification: Power to the People
Paul Butler, Prison Legal NewsButler proposes jurors vote “not guilty” in cases in which a defendant is accused of possessing drugs for his or her own use, or selling a small quantity of drugs to another consenting adult. - Jurors Need to Know That They Can Say No
Paul Butler, New York Times, December 20, 2011If you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, I recommend that you vote “not guilty” — even if you think the defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who helped make our laws fairer. - My Jury Service to America
Paul Butler, Huffington Post, July 1, 2009I have jury duty on July 2, and I can't wait. If I get put on a jury in a non-violent drug case, I'll vote "not guilty," based on my principles -- even if I think the defendant actually did it. For: NICK GILLESPIE
- What About the ‘War on Drugs’ and Libertarians?
Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, ReasonTV, June 15, 2011Gillespie and Welch answer the question: ‘What does a libertarian think about the war on drugs and how do we change it?’ - What Would a Sensible Drug Policy Look Like?
Nick Gillespie, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, October 25, 2008Gillespie speaking at an SSDP conference on the topic of ‘What Would a Sensible Drug Policy Look Like,’ and discussing how drug prohibition functions as a ‘structuring event’ in American life, forcing all sorts of activity to pay hypocritical and misdirected lip service to a Just Say No mentality. - Paying With Our Sins
Nick Gillespie, Reason, May 20, 2009Legalize drugs and then tax sales of them. And while we're at it, welcome all forms of gambling (rather than just the few currently and arbitrarily allowed) and let prostitution go legit too. - The 13th Step
Nick Gillespie, Reason, March 2001Why is it that ostensibly pro-drug movies can never quite deliver the goods, can never quite depict drug use as something other than depraved? - Drug Decriminalization in Portugal
Nick Gillespie, Reason, July 2009Gillespie interviews Glenn Greenwald author of a Cato Institute study about Portugal’s decriminalization policy which has been in place for seven years and precipitated a drop in drug use.
Against: ASA HUTCHINSON
- Compassionate Crusade in Drug War Deadlock: The Policy Battle Continues
Asa Hutchinson, Hoover Institution Press, September 2005(Scroll to page 286) Hutchinson lays out his strategy of a balanced approach to fighting drugs: enforcement, prevention and treatment in coordination. - New Drug Law Narrows Crack, Powder Cocaine Sentencing Gap
PBS NewsHour, August 3, 2010Hutchinson and Judge Reggie Walton explain Congress’ decision to cut the mandatory sentence for the possession of crack cocaine which was much stiffer than that for powder cocaine. - Legalizing Marijuana Not Worth the Costs
Asa Hutchinson, CNBC, April 20, 2010Legalizing marijuana will lead to decreased productivity, increased costs associated with drug rehabilitation and education. - Century of Lies
Dean Becker, Asa Hutchinson and Ethan Nadelman, Drug Truth Network, October 16, 2011Debate between Asa Hutchinson the former drug czar and Ethan Nadelmann the director of the Drug Policy Alliance, held at University of Arkansas. - Newsmaker Interview: Asa Hutchinson
PBS Newshour transcript, August 27, 2001An interview with the newly-appointed head of the Drug Enforcement Agency covering interdiction, supplier countries, and sentencing guidelines. Against: THEODORE DALRYMPLE
- Withrawal from Heroin Is a Trivial Matter
Theodore Dalrymple, Spectator, January 7, 2009Dalrymple is outraged by the mollycoddling of drug addicts coming off heroin and the notion that their predicament is a matter of human rights. - Don’t Legalize Drugs
Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal, Spring 1997The extreme intellectual elegance of the proposal to legalize the distribution and consumption of drugs, touted as the solution to so many problems at once (AIDS, crime, overcrowding in the prisons, and even the attractiveness of drugs to foolish young people) should give rise to skepticism. - Symposium: Romancing Opiates
Theodore Dalrymple, Chris Rutenfrans, Ron Fisher and Percy Menzies, FrontPage Magazine, October 13, 2006Dalrymple sparked a heated controversy with his book Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy. His argument that the official doctrine concerning drug addiction is mistaken and self-serving provoked criticism from various quarters--FrontPage invited Dalrymple to face some of his critics in this symposium. - Poppycock
Theodore Dalrymple, Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2006Heroin doesn't hook people; rather, people hook heroin. It is quite untrue that withdr - Draining the Romance Out of Drugs
Christopher Orlet, American Spectator, October 1, 2007A review of Dalrymple’s book, Romancing Opiates.
ARTICLES FOR & AGAINST
FOR
- Drug Legalization and the Right to Control Your Body
David Boaz, Britannica Blog, October 25, 2007Federal drug prohibition is not authorized by the Constitution and adult individuals should be free to make their own choices. - Time to Legalize Drugs
Peter Moskos and Stanford ‘Neill’ Franklin, Washington Post, August 17, 2009After years of witnessing the ineffectiveness of drug policies -- and the disproportionate impact the drug war has on young black men – the authors, and other police officers, have begun to question the system. - The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste
Michelle Alexander, Huffington Post, March 8, 2010The drug war has been brutal -- complete with SWAT teams, tanks, bazookas, grenade launchers, and sweeps of entire neighborhoods -- but those who live in white communities have little clue to the devastation wrought. This war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies consistently show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates. - Prison Math
Veronique de Rugy, Reason, July 2011The long-term impact that the tough-on-crime policies of the last two decades have had on prisoners and society. Housing nonviolent, victimless offenders with violent criminals for years on end can’t possibly help them reintegrate into society, which helps explain why four out of 10 released prisoners end up back in jail within three years of their release. - Battle Tactics: The Economics of the War on Drugs
Gary S. Becker and Kevin M. Murphy, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, May 2005An economic perspective on the failure of the war on drugs. Demand for drugs is not affected by price –the more the government tries to stop drug consumption, the more steeply consumers’ willingness to pay rises, which then provides greater incentives for dealers to bring drugs to market. - The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition
Jeffrey Miron and Katherine Waldock, Cato Institute, September 27, 2010This report estimates that legalizing drugs would save roughly $41.3 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition. - Liberal versus Libertarian Views on Drug Legalization
Jeffrey A. Miron, The New Prohibition: Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War, 2004The reasoning behind both the liberal and libertarian position supporting drug legalization.
AGAINST
- Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization
Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Justice, May 2003A picture of America’s experience with drug use, the current state of the drug problem, and what might happen if America chooses to adopt a more permissive policy on drug abuse. - Drug Legalization: Why It Wouldn’t Work in the United States
Edmund Hartnett, Police Chief, March 2005Although it is clear the majority of U.S. citizens are in favor of keeping the use, sale, and possession of drugs illegal, much of the writing from the antilegalization viewpoint comes from law enforcement and government officials. Although many acknowledge that the so-called war on drugs has had mixed success, they believe that the alternative would have catastrophic effects on the nation. - Organized Criminals Won’t Fade Away
Vanda Felbab-Brown, World Today Magazine, August 2012Legalization is not an effective shortcut to law enforcement. On its own, it is unlikely to address a host of problems associated with organized crime. - Should Drugs Be Legalized?
William Bennett, Argument Anthology Two: “Drug Decriminalization”, 2005A future with legalized drugs would not get rid of a black market, reduce drug profits, or lower crime. - Legalized Drugs: Dumber Than You May Think
John Walters, Weekly Standard, May 7, 2012‘Crack and heroin and meth are great, and I am going to give them to my brothers and sisters, my children and my grandchildren.’ If you find that statement absurd, irresponsible, or obscene, then at some level you appreciate that drugs cannot be accepted in civilized society. - Legalizing Marijuana: Why Citizens Should Just Say No
Charles Stimson, Heritage Foundation, September 13, 2010Stimson refutes the legalization arguments that marijuana is not addictive, that crime would diminish, and that tax revenue would outweigh any social costs of decriminalizing it.
