Why heroin should be legalized

Abstract

This article examines models of addiction and heroin treatment outcomes as well as the history of xenophobia, racial scapegoating, and misinformation in the promotion of narcotics prohibition in the United States. The moral model of addiction holds that punishment of the addict will be effective deterrence, yet punishment has not prevented heroin use, and narcotics control costs continue to spiral. The medical model of addiction, the dominant philosophical underpinning for current treatment methods, is shown to lack scientific corrobora‐tion and therefore to be inappropriate as a basis for policy on heroin use and inadequate to govern options in heroin addiction treatment. The discouraging outcomes of all modes of heroin addiction treatment indicate that treatment will not end the demand for the drug. Gradual legalization of heroin, while instituting formal and informal social structures geared to controlled use, is recommended.

Notes

Martha Sweezy graduated from the Smith College School for Social Work in August, 1990. This article is a condensation of one chapter in her Masters Thesis, which is entitled, “Why Heroin Should Be Legalized: Treatment and Foreign Policy.”