ABSTRACT
The drugs policy debate over the past 40 years has generally been highly polarized, with complex issues frequently being reduced to repeated clashes between hard-line prohibitionist ‘drugs warriors’ on one side and ‘liberal’ reformers or ‘legalizers’ on the other. Participants on both sides of what often seems like an unbridgeable ideological fault line have often been guilty of misunderstanding and misrepresenting each others’ positions, rarely showing any willingness to listen or give ground. The result has been a repetitive debate that invariably creates more heat than light and rarely progresses beyond conflict or stalemate. This polarization has become a serious barrier to any kind of reform or even rational debate of policy options.
