War and peace: Drug policy in the United States and the Netherlands

National drug policy has recently been a source of much debate and discussion in the United States. This paper provides a comparison of the key components of the respective drug policies that have been developed in the United States and in the Netherlands. It is argued that the Dutch approach has generally produced more desirable outcomes than have U.S. efforts, and that policy planners here should consider adopting and/or modifying several of these methods for local application.