title: Drug policy: striking the right balance.
abstract: Drug policy should strike the right balance between reducing the harm done by psychoactive drugs and reducing the harm that results from strict legal prohibitions and their enforcement. It is concluded, from a cost-benefit analysis based on pharmacologic, toxicologic, sociologic, and historical facts, that radical steps to repeal the prohibitions on presently illicit drugs would be likely, on balance, to make matters worse rather than better. Specific recommendations are offered for ameliorating the dangers to users and to society that are posed by each addictive drug.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University, CA 94305.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kalant
mesh_terms: D002110:Caffeine; D003042:Cocaine; D000431:Ethanol; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000633:toxicity; D014026:Nicotiana; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D002110:Caffeine; D000431:Ethanol; D003042:Cocaine