This book review examines Douglas Husak's Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs (2002), in which Husak argues against the criminalization of recreational drug use in the United States. The review summarizes Husak's central claims: that drug laws are selectively enforced in minority communities, that most drug users do not commit crimes, that incarceration is an unjust and ineffective deterrent, and that treatment-based approaches are more rational than punitive ones. The reviewer also evaluates the strengths and limitations of Husak's analogies, offering a balanced critical assessment of his policy arguments.
Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs is not a book that advocates drug use. However, it does advocate for a serious national policy debate on the value of criminalizing drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and even heroin. Although drug use is not a positive personal choice, regulating drug use has never been an effective deterrent, as exemplified by the failure of Prohibition. Prohibition did nothing but strengthen organized crime, and the same outcome is being produced by making recreational drug use illegal. Husak's provocative text answers many of the unspoken questions that lurk in the minds of adolescents forced to sit through anti-drug lectures in health class.
Does this mean that author Douglas Husak wishes to see drugs sold in stores, right next to liquor bottles? No — Husak advocates the decriminalization of drugs. In other words, he does not believe that substantial government resources should be diverted toward seeking out recreational users and punishing them through incarceration. The prison population of the United States is being increasingly dominated by such users. As Husak writes, "Punishment is the most powerful weapon available to the state... we must always be vigilant to ensure that it is not inflicted without adequate justification. The entire thrust of this book is that this weapon is invoked without good reason against recreational drug users" (122), given that many experimenters go on to lead productive lives — contrary to the stereotype that one puff of a marijuana cigarette inevitably leads to a spiral of drug dependency.
Between 80 and 90 million Americans have used illegal drugs at some point in their lives, and roughly 15 million do so every month. It is impossible to catch everyone, and the state's attempts to apprehend offenders result in laws that apply to everyone yet are enforced more vigorously in minority communities. This creates disrespect for the law because of the inevitable racial profiling it produces (92). Most drug users do not commit crimes — no more than most people who drink alcohol commit crimes. In the case of alcohol, becoming impaired or even abusing alcohol is not itself illegal. Only when people act recklessly — such as driving while intoxicated and thereby endangering others — are they deemed to have committed a crime (93).
Drugs should be treated in the same way by the law. The population that uses drugs may be more likely to engage in criminal activity, but correlation does not imply causation. Drug use may simply be a common behavior adopted by individuals in crime-ridden areas populated by people who are already inclined to violate the law. The drugs themselves do not increase crime any more than wearing baggy pants or adopting a particular fashion style causes a person to act criminally.
"Health-based justifications and analogy strengths and limits"
"Statistical case against supply-side enforcement"
Husak, Douglas. Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs. Verso, 2002.
You’re 60% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 2 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.