An extensional approach to drug legalization.

MANY WHO HAW STUDIED American drug policy believe our nation's drug laws have been ineffective and that changes should be made. For example, we could shift the current stress on law enforcement to more prevention and treatment, allow judges greater sentencing flexibility for drug crimes, provide arrestees with more opportunities for treatment in lieu of incarceration, and fund more research on the medical benefits of marijuana. I agree with these suggestions and believe implementing them might have positive effects.

But others, such as conservative writer and journalist William F. Buckley Jr., Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman, and former Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico, argue that a more radical approach is needed. They contend that America's drug laws have been grossly inadequate in reducing the drug problem and have in many ways made the problem worse. They maintain that in a free society, the government should not regulate what kind of drugs people can and cannot take. They want drugs made legal and here are some more of their arguments.

ARGUMENTS FOR LEGALIZING DRUGS

* Drug laws have resulted in a black market that has led to an increase in violence and property crimes.

* Keeping drugs illegal has encouraged corruption among politicians and law enforcement officials.

* Laws passed to curb drugs have not significantly reduced the demand for them.

* Legalizing drugs would minimally impact current levels of drug use because users now buy the drugs they want for a price.

* Legalization would mean that money spent on drug law enforcement could be reallocated to fight "real" crime.

* Taxing legalized drugs would provide additional money to the government.

* If drugs were made legal, otherwise law-abiding citizens who use them would not be subject to draconian drug law enforcement.

* Drug smuggling would not be a problem if drugs were legal.

* Under legalization, users would not have to worry about receiving adulterated substances or passing on illnesses related to drug use (such as AIDS or hepatitis).

* Foreign experiments with legalization have been successful.

While these contentions may have some merit, abolishing a well-entrenched, decades-old policy of drug prohibitions without more intense scrutiny and analysis seems irresponsible. It could be calamitous for teenagers, the largest at-risk group for taking drugs, who will experience a massive growth in numbers in the next few years. (In 2010 it is estimated there will be 35 million teens in America. The baby boomers topped out at 33 million.) (1)

To further explore legalization, we could examine specific questions as if we were actually developing a legalization proposal (e.g., How would the sale, manufacturing, and distribution of drugs be regulated? What provisions would there be to deal with America's violation of international drug control treaties? Would age limits be set on drug buying?). Doing this might reveal some hidden complexities connected with drug legalization and perhaps increase our appreciation of the difficulties involved in constructing a viable legalization plan.

To devise specific legalization inquiries, I will use in this article the general semantics technique of forming "extensional" questions--these are questions whose answers can be, at least partially, measured or tested rather than simply argued about. Scientists use extensional questions in formulating experiments. Such questions add rigor to discussions by forcing us to seek more precise answers.

To create extensional questions, a variety of extensional strategies can be employed. These include the use of quantifying language (how much, how many, to what degree, at what point); the use of qualifying phrases (under these circumstances, as far as it is known); and the use of standard journalistic interrogatories (who, what, when, where, and how). I have applied all these strategies to produce one hundred questions that are divided into ten sections.

ONE HUNDRED QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IN FORMULATING A DRUG LEGALIZATION PROPOSAL (2)

Manufacturing, Distribution, and Sales

Many of the questions in this section deal with fundamental and important regulatory matters that are not discussed in legalization debates. A number of them also underscore the reality that legalized drugs, like drugs that are now currently legal, can never be completely free from government regulation and control.

1. What drugs will be legalized--heroin, marijuana, cocaine, LSD and other psychedelics?

2. Who will manufacture the drugs--the government, private industry, or a quasi-governmental entity such as the post office?

3. If private industry is chosen to produce the drugs, how will individual companies be selected to do the manufacturing?

4. How aggressively will private industry be allowed to market drugs--will there be coupons, physician's samples, and so on?

5. If private industry is involved in marketing drugs, what sorts of limitations will there be on price competition?

6. Where will drugs be sold--drug stores, clinics, mail-order outlets, special drug distribution centers, vending machines?

7. Where will drugs be dispensed--in restaurants, on planes, at catered parties?

8. Will drug "saloons" similar to bars be permitted--which drugs could be served and in what quantities?

9. Where will advertising be permitted--on billboards, TV, in print media, on radio?

10. What will the content of drug ads look like?--"Had a hard day? Mellow out and smoke a joint." "Can't afford a vacation to Europe? Take an LSD trip instead." "Tired and depressed? A little cocaine will get you going."

11. Will drugs be marketed in dosages and potencies similar to the way prescription drugs are sold--will marijuana be sold by the potency of its active ingredient THC (5%, 8%, 10%), will drugs be prescribed as tabs, lids, rocks, lines, and so on?

12. Will drug paraphernalia, such as freebase cocaine kits, bongs, needles, and syringes, also be made legal?

13. Where will drug paraphernalia be sold--in supermarkets, department stores, specialty shops, etc.?

Specific Drug Considerations

This next set of questions highlights the fact that all drugs are not the same. Each drug is unique and presents special problems based on its particular pharmacology, the way it is taken, and how it impacts and inconveniences others.

14. Will drug-using and nondrug-using sections be provided in public places for marijuana smokers, similar to how cigarettes are regulated?

15. If marijuana is made legal, what are the chances that there will be an increased demand for legalizing other drugs?

16. If marijuana is legalized, how will the issue of its side-stream smoke, which can cause others to get high by just being near the smoker, be dealt with?

17. Instead of legalization, what advantages would there be in making marijuana a Schedule II drug like cocaine? (A Schedule I1 drug can be prescribed for medical purposes, but can still be prohibited for non-medical use.)

18. Will manufacturers be liable for lawsuits by those who become addicted to drugs like heroin, which have a strong potential for addiction?

19. Many American soldiers stationed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War took heroin because it was freely available and stopped taking it when they returned to the United States, where heroin is harder to get and there are legal sanctions against using it. How relevant is that Vietnam experience to the question of heroin legalization?

20. If cocaine is legalized, will crack, a freebase form of cocaine that has been responsible for tremendous amounts of violence and addiction, also be made legal?

21. Cocaine promotes feelings that are highly valued in American culture--pleasure and power. If cocaine is made legal, what is the likelihood that many Americans will take it to achieve these feelings?

22. Will designer drugs (analogues of illegal drugs that are made in laboratories) also be legalized--all of them, some of them, what will be the selection criteria?

23. If the legal prescription of the "love drug" Quaalude is restored, how likely is it that the overprescribing that went on during the 1970s, when Quaaludes were legal, would reoccur?

24. What are the dangers of legalizing long-acting psychoactive drugs like LSD, whose effects can last for 12 hours or more?

Medical Use and Distribution

The following questions center on who should be permitted to receive legalized drugs and who should be authorized to furnish them. These questions also raise awareness of the abuse of legalized drugs sanctioned for medical purposes.

25. If illegal drugs are licensed for medical use, how will leakage to unauthorized users be prevented?

26. If legalized drugs are made available through prescriptions, will a visit to the doctor be required?

27. What will be the policy on drug refills?

28. What kind of security measures will pharmacists need to safely store legalized drugs?

29. Who will set the criteria for the conditions under which drugs licensed for medical use can be prescribed--physicians, marijuana clubs, the Justice Department, others?

30. What kind of warnings will be issued with legalized drugs--what form will they take--similar to the warnings on cigarette packages and wine labels?

31. What will be the impact of drug legalization on medical insurance rates--how likely is it that premiums will rise due to increases in drug-related illnesses?

32. If drugs are authorized only for addicts, will those who have multiple addictions be permitted to obtain all of their drugs?

33. If only addicts are given legalized drugs, what is the possibility that a good number of them will illegally sell part of their supply to nonaddict users?

34. If certain drugs are distributed to addicts only, what are the chances that non-addicts who want to use these drugs will become addicted to obtain a legal supply?

Work Problems and Legalization Alternatives

Some of the questions in this section deal with the effects of legalized drugs in the workplace. Others address legalization alternatives, such as decriminalization--a term often used interchangeably with legalization even though it actually refers to the removal of criminal sanctions for the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use.

35. How likely is it that workers who use legalized drugs will have increased absentee rates and more accidents on the job?

36. What are the odds that problems will develop when workers get together after work to relax over a joint, a crack pipe, or a hit of heroin?

37. How conceivable is it that legalization will produce a greater need for drug testing in the workplace?

38. What will be the time span for prohibiting workers in "sensitive" jobs, like airline pilots or firefighters, from using particular drugs--a day before coming to work, a week, more?

39. How many additional auto accidents and auto fatalities will likely result from legalizing drugs?

40. How probable is it that the tax revenue raised on the sale of drugs will make up for the income lost from poor productivity as abuse and addiction limit the ability of people to work?

41. The fomer mayor of Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, has suggested setting up a national commission to study alternatives to our current drug policies. What are the pros and cons of this suggestion?

42. Would a decriminalization policy for certain drugs have greater benefits than legalization--what drugs, what benefits, how would the benefits be measured?

43. Instead of legalizing drugs, would it be cheaper and more effective to provide additional resources to parents, schools, and agencies to prevent and treat drug abuse--how would costs and effectiveness be measured?

Drugs and Young People

The questions included here are concerned with how legalization would affect young people. Since young people are the nation's future, a poorly designed drug policy could end up having long-lasting negative consequences. Avoiding such consequences should be a primary concern for policy makers.

44. Will age limits be placed on buying and using drugs--which drugs, what ages--lower age limit for marijuana, higher age limit for heroin?

45. If legalization normalizes drug use, what are the chances that this will make it more difficult to persuade young people not to take drugs?

46. How likely is it that celebrity endorsements of drugs, by athletes, musicians, actors, and so on, will significantly increase the rate of drug use among young people?

47. If juveniles are barred from legalized drugs, but adults are allowed to use them, what is the possibility that this will result in a "forbidden fruit" allure and produce considerably more drug use among the young?

48. Will young people be allowed to buy drug paraphernalia?

49. If drugs are prohibited to young people, what is the possibility that the black market will seek them out as customers?

50. Alcohol and cigarettes are readily available to those under twenty-one. How probable is it that legalizing drugs will also make these substances as readily available to young people?

51. Legalizing drugs would end the goal of a drug-free America. To what extent does this goal help motivate adults and children to fight against drugs and not to use them?

52. In studies done in New Jersey and California, students report that the fear of getting into trouble with the authorities is the major reason they do not use drugs. (3) Since legalization would remove much, if not all, of this threat, how likely is it that the result would be an increase in drug use among teens?

User Considerations

Will legalizing drugs greatly increase the number of drug users and the problems associated with drug use? The following questions spotlight these concerns.

53. To what extent will legalizing drugs increase public intoxication and people making nuisances of themselves?

54. If drugs are cheap, as they would be if they were legal, how likely is it that many more people would be tempted to buy them?

55. How probable is it that a smorgasbord of legalized drugs will encourage people to try different drugs?

56. What limits will be set on the quantity of a drug that a person can buy?

57. If legalization is done on an experimental basis in a particular locality, what are the chances that drug users from outside that area will be attracted to that locale?

58. What is the possibility that legalization will significantly increase the number of curiosity seekers who decide to use drugs?

59. If drugs are made legal, how likely is it that more treatment facilities will be needed to serve an increased number of abusers and addicts?

60. How many more people will seek drug solutions to their problems if legalization goes into effect?

61. What is the probability that legalizing drugs will create the same large-scale public health problems we now have with alcohol and tobacco?

62. Americans are attracted to novelty. If drugs are made legal, what is the prospect that their new position in society will create added interest in them and result in a drug craze?

Crime and Law Enforcement

Those on both sides of the legalization debate tend to oversimplify issues involving law enforcement and drug-related crime. But, as the next group of questions indicates, these issues are complicated and should be given serious thought.

63. How much does the stigma of illegality prevent people from taking drugs?

64. Instead of legalizing drugs, would it be more effective to increase law enforcement efforts--how much more effective, how would effectiveness be measured?

65. Many individuals arrested for drug sales have previous records for other criminal acts. How likely is it, if drugs are legalized, that these people would go into other criminal lines of work, such as prostitution, gambling, extortion, and so on?

66. If drugs are made legal, to what degree will declines in systemic violence (violence associated with drug trafficking and distribution) be offset by increases in psychopharmacologic violence (violence from biochemical reactions caused by drugs)?

67. If illegal drugs that are now in use become legal, what are the odds that black marketeers will look for and develop new drugs to sell?

68. If a legalization policy sets a quantity limit for drug users, how probable is it that a large percentage of them will turn to the black market for an additional supply?

69. How conceivable is it that drug legalization will encourage legalization of other victimless crimes such as prostitution and gambling?

70. Some say we should legalize drugs because the current drug laws are poorly enforced. What is the evidence that drug regulations necessary in any legalization scheme would be better enforced; what would be the costs of enforcement?

71. What would the penalties be for violating legalization regulations?

72. How will federal, state, and local governments enforce legalization regulations--will there be new agencies and bureaucracies, will there be a super agency?

73. To what extent does present drug policy cause corruption among police and public officials, and to what extent is corruption due to the weak moral character of those who engage in it?

Neighborhood and Community Concerns

Drug legalization would not impact all communities equally. The following questions call attention to this fact as well as the need to minimize legalization's negative effects in vulnerable localities.

74. How will the location of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin clinics and stores be determined?

75. What sort of impacts will these clinics and stores have in the areas where they are located?

76. If drugs become more accessible because of legalization, how likely is it that this will have a particularly devastating effect in many inner-city locations where hopelessness and despair already contribute to high rates of drug use?

77. Drug ads for legalized drugs will probably target areas where drug use is now most prevalent. How will this affect the people living in these places?

78. Would providing more job opportunities, social service supports, and educational funding to marginalized communities be more beneficial and cost effective than legalizing drugs--how could this be measured?

79. What are the chances that legalizing drugs will create heroin, marijuana, and cocaine "skid rows"?

International Ramifications 

Legalizing drugs in America would have international consequences involving foreign drug growing and trafficking, multilateral conventions, and bilateral agreements. The significance of these effects is rarely mentioned in drug debates even though the United States has been the principal sponsor of many international drug control pacts.

80. If drugs are made legal, will exotic substances from other countries be allowed into our markets--qat from Yemen, bekaro from Pakistan, and so on?

81. Legalizing drugs would involve violating a number of our international agreements and treaty obligations. What effects might this have on American foreign policy?

82. How would we explain a drug legalization policy to countries like Mexico and Colombia where we have encouraged drug crop eradication and have contributed to police and military efforts to crack down on drugs?

83. What would be the guidelines for importation of drugs from other countries--would there be quantity limits, open trade, tariffs?

84. If we allow American farmers to grow marijuana for domestic consumption, would we also permit them to export it to the rest of the world?

85. Under a legalization policy, will foreign drugs be marketed like foreign coffee--freshly grown marijuana from Colombia and Mexico; high-quality opium from Burma, Laos, and Pakistan; top-of-the-line cocaine from Bolivia and Peru?

86. Every country has its own unique population and sociocultural values. To what extent do these factors limit the usefulness of comparing drug policies among nations?

87. Countries with liberal drug policies, such as Holland, tend to attract "drug tourists" from other places. What are the chances that legalization in the United States would produce a similar situation?

88. How likely is it that legalization would encourage domestic and international drug companies to look for additional psychoactive drugs to sell?

Et Cetera 

These last questions cover a wide range of topics such as how to evaluate whether legalization is working, historical considerations, economic concerns, attitudinal factors, and more. The final question suggests that complacency has no place in developing a drug legalization proposal.

89. What are the chances that the problems that will come about because of drug legalization will shift our attention from the problems we now have with alcohol and tobacco?

90. Pressuring arrested addicts to go into treatment rather than sending them to jail has had good results. Since legalization would do away with this policy, what is the probability that it will lead to fewer people finding their way into treatment?

91. If drugs are made legal, what can be done to teach moderation to those who decide to use them?

92. What criteria will be used to evaluate the success of a legalization policy?

93. What fallback mechanisms could be put into place in case legalization does not work--what problems would there be in reinstating criminal penalties?

94. Public opinion polls indicate that most Americans would not try drugs even if they were legally available. But this public attitude of resistance to drugs was formed during a period of drug prohibition. How likely is it that such resistance would continue in a climate of drug legalization?

95. If legalized drugs are taxed, how will the tax revenue be allocated--to drug prevention, treatment, law enforcement, a general fund, road construction, and so on?

96. What do those in law enforcement, treatment, and prevention think of legalization?

97. In 1993, U.S. Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders was politically vilified when she suggested that legalization might be beneficial and should be studied. What can be done to keep public debate open on this issue?

98. At the end of the nineteenth century, when drugs were legal, America had the highest per-capita rate of drug use in its history. How relevant is this observation to the current legalization debate?

99. To what extent will legalizing drugs promote a hedonistic philosophy of life that will cause people to turn away from their obligations and duties to others?

100. Can you think of at least one more question that might be useful in formulating a drug legalization proposal?

NOTES

(1.) "Atoosa, Former High School Loser, Is Hearst's New Cosmogirl Person," The New York Observer (14 February 2000): 10.

(2.) The idea to construct these questions, and some of the questions themselves, came from James A. Inciardi and Duane C. McBride, "The Case Against Legalization," in James A. Inciardi, ed., The Drug Legalization Debate (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 45-79.

(3.) Rodney Skager and Gregory Austin, Fourth Biennial Statewide Survey of Drug and Alcohol Use Among California Students in Grades 7, 9, and 11 (Office of the Attorney General, June 1993); Wayne Fisher, Drug and Alcohol Use Among New Jersey High School Students (New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, 1993).

SELECTED ANNOTATED REFERENCES

The following are some key references that were used to devise the questions that appear in this article.

Drug Enforcement Administration. Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization (Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994). This guide, which evolved from the Anti-Legalization Forum held at the FBI/DEA Training Academy in August 1994, presents arguments against legalization and a list of prolegalization and antilegalization books, newspapers, magazine articles, reports, and organizations.

Evans, Rod L., and Irwin M. Berent (editors), Drug Legalization: For and Against (LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1992). This book gives a fair and balanced presentation of the legalization debate and includes important articles by many of the major players in the debate. It contains a foreword by Linus Pauling and an introduction by Hugh Downs.

Fish, Jefferson M. (editor), How to Legalize Drugs (Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1998). The editor of this almost 700-page book examines the legalization question through contributions from experts involved in anthropology, economics, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology.

Inciardi, James A. (editor), The Drug Legalization Debate (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991). The contributors to this book offer several alternatives to America's current drug policy and address crucial issues involved in drug legalization.

Trebach, Arnold S., and James A. Inciardi, Legalize It?: Debating American Drug Policy (Washington, DC: The American University Press, 1993). Two distinguished experts and opponents of drug policy present arguments for and against legalizing drugs.

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., director of PROJECT SHARE, a New York City school-based drug prevention program, writes the ETC Books feature. This article is adapted from a chapter in his book, The Drug Problem: A New View Using the General Semantics Approach (Praeger, 2002), available from ISGS.