Does fear of sanctions or sanctions discourage drug use? The point of view of a sample of illegal drug users in Italy

Abstract

Italian law prohibits the consumption of illegal drugs and states that anyone found in possession of a small amount of these drugs must be reported to the territorial government office (TGO). The Prefect summons the consumer to ascertain the reasons for the illegal behaviour and to assess whether to apply an administrative sanction. The purpose of this mandatory interview is to dissuade the consumer from repeating the same behaviour. In this article, we present the results of a study that aims to analyze the deterrent effectiveness of this procedure on a sample of 330 consumers reported to the TGOs of nine Italian cities. The results of the research indicate a rather limited special deterrent effectiveness of the administrative procedure, as nine out of ten of those interviewed declared that they continued to use illegal psychoactive substances after going through the procedure. The reasons explaining this failure are related to the perception of the risk of being discovered, the evaluation of the consequences of the sanction, opinion about the law, and the effectiveness of the treatment imposed with the threat of a sanction. Our results are consistent with the empirical evidence provided by the literature on the same topic.