Binarisms, Regressive Outcomes and Biases in the Drug Policy Interventions: A Theoretical Approach

Abstract

The golden age of drug policy was characterized by the informal regulation of drug use. Formalization of the control over regulation and its increasingly strict, aggressive character led to the emergence of a binary attitude. The main binarisms: pharmaceutical or drug; ban or tolerance; punishment or treatment; psychopathological or pathopsychological approach; subjective or objective knowledge; traditional or alternative. On the basis of Kuhn's paradigm theory, these binarisms can be integrated. Drug policy interventions based on the binary attitude have had regressive effects. Using the work of Sam Sieber, the author distinguishes eight regressive influences: functional imbalance, perverse diagnosis, ricochet, overload, goal displacement, exploitation, provocation, and classification, placation. The regressive influences have caused the escalation of “the drug problem,” which in turn has led to further regressive interventions. This vicious circle could be broken by eliminating the four biases—the paternalistic, elitist, rationalist, and activist biases—underlying the regressive interventions.

Keywords:

• binarisms, traditional and alternative
• regressive outcomes
• drug policy interventions
• biases

Notes

^*This paper was presented at the research meeting entitled “Tensions in drug policy in Western Europe “12–13th May 2003, Helsingborg, Sweden.