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Drug Policy

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PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Policy regarding drugs, both legal and illegal and explicitly including alcohol, poses some of the most prominent and perplexing issues facing modern societies. For nearly a century, the United States has been an active proponent of the punitive prohibition of illicit drugs. Unfortunately, the “War on Drugs” has been largely unsuccessful; prosecution of illegal drug consumption has filled our prisons without significantly reducing crime, decreasing homelessness, preventing overdose deaths, diminishing the spread of HIV or undermining the illegal drug market. Many now argue that the vision of a “drug-free” America is unrealistic. Other countries are turning to “harm reduction” policies to reduce the societal damage that illegal drug use causes. With cautious optimism, the Baker Institute Drug Policy Program pursues research and open debate on local and national drug policies in hopes of developing pragmatic policies based on common sense, driven by human rights interests, and focused on reducing the death, disease, crime and suffering associated with drug use.

In recent research, William Martin, director of the drug policy program, has written, lectured, lobbied and testified before the Texas Legislature supporting needle exchange programs, widely used in many countries but scarce and often opposed in the United States, as a proven method of reducing the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C without increasing drug use. He also writes and lectures in support of regulation and taxation of marijuana as a means to 1) reduce profits criminal cartels reap from illegal sales and associated violence; 2) enhance state and federal budgets by lowering costs of law enforcement and corrections, and raising income from taxation of the widely used drug; and 3) halt damage caused by applying criminal sanctions to people who use a drug less harmful than either tobacco or alcohol. Gary Hale, former chief of intelligence in the Houston Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, works with both the U.S. and Mexican governments as they grapple with drug trafficking organizations operating in the two countries. Nathan Jones continues extensive research on the major Mexican drug trafficking organizations. Dean Becker hosts weekly radio interviews with a wide range of drug policy experts.

PUBLICATIONS
2013
The Policy and Politics of Drug Sentencing
May 06 2013
William Martin
Texas should not mandate drug tests for unemployment benefits
Mar 29 2013
Nathan P. Jones
Marijuana Prohibition: Going Up in Smoke? and Sterile Syringes for Injecting Drug Users
Mar 08 2013
William Martin
The unintended consequences of kingpin strategies: Kidnap rates and the Arellano-Felix Organization
Jan 28 2013
Nathan P. Jones
Baker Institute Policy Report 55 -- Cartels, Corruption, and Carnage in the Calderon Era
Jan 14 2013
William Martin
Mexico Drug Policy and Security Review 2012
Jan 11 2013
Nathan P. Jones
2012
Monopoly of Force Does Not Always Explain Peace: Illicit Network Evolution Does
Aug 29 2012
Nathan P. Jones
Conference Report -- The War on Drugs Has Failed. Is Legalization the Answer?
Jun 29 2012
William Martin
Tijuana Cartel Survives, Despite Decade-long Onslaught
Jun 20 2012
Nathan P. Jones
Mexico is a Friend, Not an Enemy
Feb 16 2012
Gary J. Hale
2011
Mexico's Government Begins to Retake Northeastern Mexico
Dec 09 2011
Gary J. Hale
A "Failed State" in Mexico: Tamaulipas Declares Itself Ungovernable
Jul 27 2011
Gary J. Hale
Syringe Exchange: Responsible, Prudent, Compassionate
Apr 12 2011
William Martin
2010
Time for Latin America to reconsider prohibition
Nov 05 2010
Erika de la Garza, William Martin
Baker Institute Policy Report 45: Cartels, Corruption, Carnage, and Cooperation
Oct 25 2010
William Martin
EVENTS