ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the costs and consequences of drug prohibition policies. Drug use is universal. Humanity started experimenting with psychoactive substances very early in history, humans having copied it from animals, but ever since the use of substances has been a kind of cultural constant. One consequence of trying to conduct scientific inquiry within a punitive, anti-drug regime is that, talking with people who use illegal substances is very difficult. Several agencies are involved in tracking drug users, and prosecuting, judging, punishing or treating users of controlled substances. But the data from the formal control system are not complete. The semi-scientific discourse of many drug experts dazzles and blinds the complex social reality. There is a need for more sociological, anthropological, and even economic research, because the social, political and cultural factors contribute to an increase or decreases of the popularity of various substances deserve much more scientific attention.
