Fall 1983 – Issue 30 - Stanford Lawyer - Stanford University

By John Kaplanjockson Eli ReynoldsProfessor of LowH 0FORDiet is not at all clear whyheroin should be the "hardest"drug. It is, after all, awhite powder indistinguishableto the eye from cocaine,mescaline, various amphetaminesand barbiturates,nicotine, and caffeine - some ofwhich are "soft" and others notpopularly considered drugs at all. Itis true that heroin is addicting, butthis complex property is shared bymany drugs we do not consider"hard" at all.In all probability, the hardness ofheroin, in the public view, stemsfrom a combination of factors: thecondition of those users who come toour attention; the public attitudetoward the kinds of people who usethe drug; the serious criminal penaltiesfor its sale or use; the strongsocial disapproval it evokes; and theenormous social cost to the nation attributedto its use.Estimates of these costs (rough atbest) run about ten billion dollars ayear, including the amounts stolenby addicts to support their habits;the cost of apprehending, processing,and imprisoning those whoseoffenses arise from the use or sale ofheroin; and the sums spent on thetreatment of addicts.This figure does not, by anymeans, reveal the entire cost ofheroin to our society. Nowhere dothe usual calculations account for theerosion of civil liberties and thepolice corruption related to attemptedenforcement of the heroinlaws; the diversion of large profits toorganized crime; the lowered qualityof life in large areas of our cities; andthe pain suffered by the families ofaddicts and, more directly, by the addictsthemselves.Probably the most popular suggestiontoday for lowering the costs ofheroin abuse in the United States isthat we should adopt what is thoughtto be the British system. We wouldthen make heroin legally available toaddicts at a very low price whilemaintaining the prohibition for salesto anyone else.Fall 1983 Stanford Lawyer 5