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Science 3 October 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5335, pp. 47 - 52
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5335.47
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Articles

Interpreting Dutch Cannabis Policy: Reasoning by Analogy in the Legalization Debate

Robert MacCoun, Peter Reuter

The Dutch depenalization and subsequent de facto legalization of cannabis since 1976 is used here to highlight the strengths and limitations of reasoning by analogy as a guide for projecting the effects of relaxing drug prohibitions. While the Dutch case and other analogies have flaws, they appear to converge in suggesting that reductions in criminal penalties have limited effects on drug use--at least for marijuana--but that commercial access is associated with growth in the drug-using population.

R. MacCoun is at the Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7320, USA. E-mail: maccoun{at}socrates.berkeley.edu
P. Reuter is at the School of Public Affairs and Department of Criminology, University of Maryland, MD 20742, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Legalization of Marijuana: Potential Impact on Youth.
A. Joffe, W. S. Yancy, and the Committee on Substance Abuse and Committee on (2004)
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The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy: Cannabis in Amsterdam and in San Francisco.
C. Reinarman, P. D. A. Cohen, and H. L. Kaal (2004)
Am J Public Health 94, 836-842
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Comparative cannabis use dataAuthors' reply.
M. D. Abraham, P. D. A. Cohen, D. J. Beukenhorst, R. MacCoun, and P. Reuter (2001)
The British Journal of Psychiatry 179 , 175-177
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Evaluating alternative cannabis regimes.
R. MacCOUN and P. REUTER (2001)
The British Journal of Psychiatry 178, 123-128
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The cannabis policy debate: finding a way forward.
(2000)
Can. Med. Assoc. J. 162, 1690-1692
Improving the quality of the cannabis debate: defining the different domains.
J. Strang, J. Witton, and W. Hall (2000)
BMJ 320, 108-110
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)