Sociological approaches to the study of drug use and policy

Sociology has contributed much to the study of drug use and dependence, as

numerous reviews can attest (e.g. Adrian, 2003; Allen, 2007; Bergeron, 2009; Faupel,

Horowitz, & Weaver, 2004; Rhodes, 2009; Weinberg, 2011). However, the study of

drug policy has often been left to economists, with assistance from operational

researchers, public policy specialists, lawyers and psychologists (e.g. Boyum &

Reuter, 2005; Caulkins, Tragler, & Wallner, 2009; Donohue, Ewing, & Peloquin,

2011; Kleiman, 2009; MacCoun & Reuter, 2001). As Peter Reuter recently stated,

while economics has provided useful contributions to the analysis of the drug trade

seen as a market, economists have too often failed to question or verify the – often

grand – assumptions that they tend to bring to the study of these markets (Reuter,

2011).