| Chapter 6 Outline |
| V. EVALUATION: HAWKS, DOVES, AND OWLS |
| A. Competing Views |
| 1. Hawks view the drug problem as one of values. |
| a. Users and sellers do not care about right and wrong. |
| b. Users concentrate on short-term benefits and have a lack of concern for
others. |
| c. Drug use is a social evil requiring tough enforcement of prohibition. |
| 2. Doves view the greatest drug problems as arising from prohibition rather than use. |
| a. Prohibition and the tough enforcement of prohibition can threaten constitutional guarantees of freedom. |
| | 1. Government should not interfere with the informed decisions made by adults. |
| 3. Owls view the drug problem as one of drug abuse, addiction, and associated disease. |
| a. The drug problem arises from bad social conditions, and should be
controlled by bold, demand-side intervention. |
| B. Current Policy |
| 1. Resources should be directed so that the equimarginal principle is satisfied. |
| a. This principle states that the last dollar spent on any activity should give
the same marginal benefit as the last dollar spent on any other activity. |
| | 1. This means that the last dollar spent on marijuana enforcement should yield the same marginal benefit as the last dollar spent on cocaine enforcement. |
| C. Owlish Criticism |
| 1. Owls argue that too large a portion of the drug enforcement budget is allocated to punitiveness. |
| a. Owls argue that reallocating the budget to treatment and education
programs would result in greater benefits to society. |
| b. Owls also argue that enforcement efforts should be more concentrated on
drugs such as cocaine which are more dangerous to individual users than
on marijuana which is less dangerous to individual users. |
| 2. Despite the owlish criticism, the United States has concentrated on a hawkish drug enforcement police. |