Drugs: Public Policy

“Drugs” are a category of substances that influence human sensation, perception, mood, and behavior. A wide range of drugs are currently used for non-medicinal purposes. The ways in which their production, circulation, and use are controlled varies substantially: from the prohibition by international law of a range of substances including opiates and cocaine to the minimal control of caffeine. Sociological, anthropological, and historical studies of drugs have demonstrated that the positioning of a drug as legal or illegal is the result of social processes and have underlined the socio-legally constructed nature of modern understandings of drugs. The contemporary public debate on drug policy has been dominated by debates over prohibition versus legalization of drugs. These discussions are seen as closing off considerations of the social issues that are at the root of many of the harms attributed to drug use or policies. Keywords: deviance and social control; drugs; social policy