Abstract
The law is governmental social control; it is the state's most direct intervention in the normative life of its citizens. Psychoactive drugs are controlled through regulation and prohibition, depending on the legal status of the particular substance. Licit drugs are made available through a regulatory scheme of medical prescription and legal sale; health is protected through investigating, licensing, and monitoring the quality and quantity of drugs and the circumstances in which they are consumed. Illicit drugs are forbidden by criminal statutes which create offenses related to both use (i.e., possession) and distribution (i.e., trafficking, importing); no level of use is acceptable and there is no legal source of supply. The agents of control for licit drugs are physicians, scientists, and health bureaucrats. In contrast, the agents that enforce illicit drug laws are the police, prosecutors, courts, and customs officials. The general preventive effect of the criminal law is activated through the threat o...
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