An analysis of the failure of the drugs law enforcement policies on the governments of Britain and the United States of America

The drugs law enforcment policies of the Governments of Britain and the United States of America have failed to reduce either the amount of drugs entering their respective countries or the numbers of people misusing drugs. The supply-side control model dominance of 1980s multi-dimensional policy approaches for tackling drugs misuse, with its political headline grabbing opportunism, has at times ensured the drugs issue a high political profile. However, the bureaucracies that have grown with the drugs problem, and the `turf battles' between the drug enforcement agencies, have ensured that policy-making has been strongly influenced by the `street-level bureaucrats' and their organisations, to the detriment of a fully co-ordinated and co-operative law enforcement approach. Graham Allison's Bureaucratic Politics model provides the conceptual framework for analysing the failure of the drugs law enforcement policies. The thesis highlights the deficiencies and many of the causes of the policy failure, and offers some law enforcement solutions for tackling drugs misuse. The research was mostly based on interviews with law enforcement and government officials, together with a survey of police forces. The depth of the research into drugs law enforcement policies and policy-making, and the agencies involved in the process, together with a comparison of the approaches of Britain and the United States of America, provides new and previously unpublished insights and information on the drugs misuse issue in the drugs law enforcement policy area.