Decriminalising Drug Use

There’s a very interesting report by the BBC’s Mark Easton - complete with some great statistics - on the effects which decriminalising drug use has had in Portugal.

I remember first learning about the idea that drug use can actually be amplified (deviance amplification) by tough law enforcement - its worth checking out Jock Young’s study on the drugtakers of Notting Hill. However, its worth considering the idea with some methodological scepticism. It’s not clear - as far as I can see - precisely why the Portugeuse policy has had the effects reported. Also one has to consider the longer term impacts, and as well as that, it’s possible that while it works for Portugal, it may not work the same elsewhere. There could, after all, be some specific causal factor/s at play in Portugal. And there’s a general point to make or argue here: the social sciences are different to the natural sciences, because people are reflexive. That means that people think about their actions and behaviour, and that means that just copying some policy initiative made in one society and culture, and transporting it to another, won’t always work.

That said, you may find the idea that decriminalising the use of some drugs - an interesting and possibly convincing suggestion.

Student Task: Look up deviance amplification and give a brief definition of it. Describe the process whereby deviance is amplified by police activity. Now evaluate this concept (hint - identify methodological strengths and weaknesses of generalising from e.g Jock Young’s study).