Social Policy and Psychoactive Substances

Publisher Summary

There are a number of strategies by which a society seeks to control psychoactive substances. One is control of availability, of which prohibition is the most extreme form. Others include education, public information and persuasion, environmental harm reduction strategies, deterring behaviors connected with substance use, and the treatment of substance-use problems. It is possible to regulate the product, the provider or seller, the conditions of sale, or the buyer or consumer. There is a wide diversity of rationales for governments to control the supply and consumption of psychoactive substances. Rankings of the risk or danger from different substances are reviewed. A ranking based on present levels of health harm puts tobacco and alcohol in the top two positions, but policy should take into account both present patterns of use and also the potential for harm under changed regimes. Other factors besides the substance itself influence the harm with which it is associated and should be taken into account in policies on substance use. They include the concentration of the substance, the mode of ingestion, and the location and circumstances of use. The problems of substance use are felt most acutely at the local level, and there is a case for locating decisions on controls at local rather than universal levels. However, the globalization of the current world puts limits on this approach.