Going to Pot by Bennett William J. White Robert A

Author:Bennett, William J.,White, Robert A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science / Commentary & Opinion
ISBN: 9781455560714
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Published: 2015-01-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

The International Experience

In almost every area of public and social policy, Americans will cite another country’s policies and experience in support of their position. This is and has been true in everything from education reform, gun control laws, and the death penalty, to the sexual mores of our political leaders. It is no less true of the debate over drugs and, particularly, marijuana. However, frequently the examples from other countries are given incompletely or, worse, selectively.

Of course, very few serious social scientists believe that what one country does (especially on another continent) can be easily imported to another country, given vast differences in culture, family structure, socioeconomic factors, and other differences among populations. Rarely does a discussion of marijuana policy take place without someone’s pointing to experiences in other countries, particularly the Netherlands or Portugal. While there is no shortage of argument regarding those countries’ lax policies, we believe a more complete picture needs to be drawn. Experiences with those policies abroad have not, on closer examination, been all that benign. If anything, they are greater reason for caution.

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