ABSTRACT
“Get the dealer!” That is the cry today as the demands for change in the drug laws erupt on all sides. Soft on the user, hard on the dealer, that is the theme. And why not? Who is more malignant, more evil than the drug peddler? Can there be a criminal more loathed and feared than the pusher who is thought to seduce children into a life of slavery? He is the demon who spreads crime and corruption in the slums, who controls the minds and bodies of others by exploiting the cravings he has himself created. These are the images the drug peddler conjures up in the public mind. The question is, are the images correct? And is the criminal law derived from such conceptions likely to work?
