The Public Health Approach to Illicit Drugs

Abstract

The public health approach to drug policy has been offered as an alternative to an emphasis on criminal justice. This discussion provides a critical analysis of the public health approach to drug policy. The meaning of the public health approach is considered, as is the assumption that criminal justice and public health are mutually exclusive and that a public health approach will necessarily be more humane. Concerns are raised that the principles of public health will first be co-opted and then subverted by criminal justice, leaving a system based on the worst of both worlds.