The "War on Drugs" has been raging for twenty years without resolution. This work attempts to provide a compromise position between the prohibitionists and the legalizers that preserves the integrity of both positions. This compromise position is necessary to resolve issues of racism, deprivation of civil rights, and other injustices inherent in the policy, on which I elaborate. I show a moral compromise with integrity is not possible without a full elaboration of the moral underpinnings of both sides to the conflict, which is provided. I extend Martin Benjamin's theory of moral compromise with integrity, as found in Splitting the Difference, to the public policy arena. I offer a compromise solution to the drug policy question, and answer theoretical objections, including establishing criteria of integrity-preservation, which I show are met by my compromise position.

It has commonly been argued that drugs have been securitized, however relatively little in-depth analysis has been carried out on this subject. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by using a combination of Foucault’s concept of the dispositif and a sociological interpretation of securitization theory to examine how drugs have become constructed as existentially threatening to humankind and the state by the United Nations (UN) and the United States of America (US). The two securitizations analysed here -the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (Single Convention) and US President Reagan’s 1986 National Security Decision Directive 221 (NSDD-221) -took place within the wider historical context of a control-oriented dispositif, it is argued,but also re-shaped the international drug control system and the drug control dispositif in profound ways. The thesis concludes that the drug control dispositif has continued to evolve through time and across space, and that the securitization of drugs by the US and UN has limited the range of options available within international and domestic drug policies, often exacerbating the harms to humans and the state –the very referent objects that these securitizations aim to protect. Discourse analysis of archival documents from the British National Archives, the US National Archives and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum,and process-tracing of media sources are used to examine the ways in which drugs became securitized and how these securitizations affected the drug control dispositif. In order to understand the context in which the securitization(s) of drugs occurred, this thesis firstly identifies the various forms of control that were used during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It then analyses how the Single Convention and NSDD-221 established drugs as being threatening to humankind and the state through securitizing speech acts and non-discursive practices and how these securitizations re-oriented the drug control dispositif towards a prohibitionist paradigm. Finally, this thesis explores how various discourses and practices are challenging the ‘drugs as a threat’ discourse but still sit firmly within the drug control dispositif.

When exploring the interplay between drug policy and human rights, commentators tend to adopt a harm reductionist approach, and centre their research on rectifying the vast amount of human rights violations carried out in the name of drug control. These violations include the use of the death penalty, the infliction of torture, and the denial of basic healthcare, to name but a few. Though this approach ameliorates some of the worst effects resulting from prohibition, a harm reductionist approach can only ever perpetuate the current regime. The thesis puts forth an alternative human rights perspective, one which explores the human rights of individuals to consume psychoactives, to challenge the moral hegemony of the global drug regime and prohibitionist logic. Part I (Chapters 1-3) comprehensively challenges the value of ‘human rights’ on a philosophical, political, legal and institutional basis- to appreciate their capacity to provide a new perspective on drug control. Part I concludes that: human rights are conceptually broad living instruments, capable of reflecting the complex reality of human psychoactive usage; human rights can better address the State/individual binary which is identified to be at the crux of drug policies and; human rights and drug control regimes are legally compatible. This bona fide human rights perspective is then applied to Part II (Chapters 4-5), which employs health and religious rights as conceptual starting points, to demonstrate how human rights could improve the drug control framework, and how the lens of human rights can point to different ways of regulating drug consumption. The broader regulatory implications resulting from this unique perspective call for an application of human rights which moves beyond medical and traditional prohibitive paradigms, to integrate broader categorisations such as ‘human flourishing’. This broader perspective accounting for pleasure, well-being and spirituality etc. would more thoroughly appreciate the often interconnected nature, and significance an individual accords their drug use. The thesis also concludes that drug policy is inherently political, and through centring upon the relationship between the State and the individual, a human rights perspective can comprehensively unpack the moral arguments involved. By introducing normative thinking in this sphere, as well as presenting the empirical evidence when weighing up the benefits and harms from psychoactives, a more open-minded, transparent approach to the issue of drug control can be adopted. Analysing (predominately) domestic and international case law which explores the conflict between the human rights and the drug control regimes, finally demonstrates that human rights have a transformative capacity to alter the drug control system, even while operating within the prevailing prohibitionist paradigm. The medical cannabis cases, and the religious exemptions for peyote and ayahuasca particularly demonstrate this, and give credence to the notion that the global regime of drug control is beginning to fall apart. Ultimately, this thesis uses the lens of human rights to provide a new perspective and direction to the issue of drug control.

This study examines how rave subculture is constructed differently by participants of the rave scene and by external observers of the rave scene. Mainstream national media articles are compared to interviews with self-identified ravers to understand how rave subculture is constructed. Subcultural and Post-Subcultural theory support this method and illustrates how concepts of subcultures have changed over time. The construction of rave culture by the media as associated with drug abuse and illegal activity attracted drug abusers and irresponsible young people to the rave scene. This consequently led to a change in the rave scene and a criminalization of rave culture and the rave promoters through passing of the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act

Over the past decade, a significant shift has taken place in British drug policy. The publication of the 2010 drug strategy shifted the primary focus of treatment away from attracting and retaining drug users in services, towards encouraging individuals to complete and exit treatment in 'recovery'. The introduction of the recovery agenda emerged alongside widespread reform to the public health system and during a period of sustained economic downturn that has witnessed the introduction of pervasive austerity measures by successive UK governments. With the reorientation towards recovery in this climate, important questions have been raised over the shape of drug treatment provision on the ground. However, despite much speculation, there remains a lack of empirical research in this area. This thesis presents a qualitative, exploratory study of the impact of the shift to recovery in two local authorities in the north of England. Through a total of 36 semi-structured interviews with drug treatment commissioners, staff and service users, this research provides an original contribution to the field by demonstrating the impact of the shift to recovery on local level policy and practice during a time of reform and economic austerity. It is argued that cuts to funding and changes to the commissioning of drug treatment services have created a highly competitive treatment system in which the success of providers is measured primarily through their ability to record successful completions of drug treatment. This has generated perverse incentives within the sector, giving rise to risky practices performed by treatment providers in the aim of demonstrating success. It is argued that these developments are best understood as the manifestation of neoliberal notions of competition, risk, choice and responsibility at the level of practice. This thesis concludes by offering important policy and practice recommendations.

Ph.D.

This study examines the effects of more lenient marijuana policy on recidivism rates. Using data of prisoners by state it examined the effect that more lenient drug laws by state on that state's recidivism rates.

For decades, the United States has fought a “War on Drugs” with no success. This war has led to substantial increases in the number of individuals incarcerated in the United States prison system. The following dissertation investigates the impact of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA 2010) on sentencing decisions for crack and powder cocaine offenders sentenced in the federal system. The FSA 2010 is a federal policy that reduced the crack-to-powder cocaine quantity from 100-to1 to 18-to-1 in an effort to reduce racial/ethnic disparity in sentencing associated with harsh penalties. Specifically, I examined federal crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenders sentenced during the years 2005-2009 (pre-FSA 2010) and 2011-2015 (post-FSA 2010). I begin with a discussion of how the social construction of drug use has framed society’s ideas about drugs and how drug offenders should be handled. Second, I outline how the perceived threat of racial/ethnic minorities has contributed the disproportionate number of racial/ethnic minorities in the United States prison system. Data for these analyses are drawn from the United States Sentencing Commission’s (USSC) Monitoring of the Federal Criminal Sentences program for the years 2005-2015 and state data from the American Community Survey, the United States Federal Election Commission, and the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. Multilevel analyses were used to examine the influence of extralegal, legal, and contextual factors on the incarceration decision and the determination of sentence length for federal drug offenders. Results revealed that the FSA 2010 has had some influence on federal sentencing decisions after its introduction. Additional analyses examined sentencing decisions for federal cocaine and methamphetamine offenses to determine whether the factors influencing sentencing decisions for federal drug offenders vary by drug type. The existing literature shows that cocaine and methamphetamine have been socially constructed in different ways, with cocaine production and use framed as a crime problem and methamphetamine as a public health concern. Supplemental analyses revealed that there was no substantive significance in the sentencing outcomes for federal cocaine and methamphetamine offenders. Theoretical and policy implications, limitations, and directions of future research are discussed.

<p>The Essential Drugs Programme (EDP) is one of the tools developed to achieve the objectives of the South African National Drug Policy. Occupational health (OH) services are largely in the private sector and usually provide an element of Primary Health Care in addition to Occupational Hygiene, Medicine and Nursing. The aim of this study was to determine the challenges of implementing the Essential Drugs Programme into Occupatinal Health settings in the Port Elizabeth and East London areas. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out. Respondents cited the evidence-based approach to management of clients as a motivating factor for adopting the EDP in Occupational Health clinics.</p>

Recreational drug use, whether publicly acknowledged or privately hidden, has long been a common activity within human societies. Though this comes with serious hazards, it also produces benefits, which often go unrecognized. Given the current prohibitory policies, it is important to consider whether such use ought to be restricted. I will do just that, focusing on whether recreational drug use can be part of a reasonable conception of the good life, as well as whether restrictions constitute an infringement on freedom. I will argue that, in moderation, recreational drug use constitutes a positive good for a large group of people, and that criminalization places an unfair burden upon these people, which breaches the liberal principle of neutrality.