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Article: Mind alteration: drug-policy scholar Ethan Nadelmann on turning people against drug prohibition. (Interview)
- Article from:
- Reason
- Article date:
- July 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Reason Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On 1988 the conventional wisdom about U.S. drug policy could be summed up in two dogmatic phrases: "zero tolerance" and "Just Say No." Republicans and Democrats were competing to see who could be tougher on drugs. Doubts about the wisdom of prohibition--let alone proposals for legalization--were beyond the pale of acceptable discussion.
That climate started to change in the spring, after two respectable people publicly criticized the war on drugs and said it was time to examine alternatives. One of them was Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, who told a group of mayors and police chiefs in April that the drug war was a failure and said drug use should be decriminalized. ...