Rio Hondo College Library - Drug Legalization Subject Guide

Drug Legalization
The following guide provides Web site links, a list of selected books, and access to online periodical articles about this subject. The Web site links have been researched, evaluated, and annotated by Rio Hondo College Librarians. The Librarians have specifically selected these Web sites to meet the research needs of Rio Hondo College students

go to Web Site Links Online Databases (RHC Students only) Books Library Catalog Media Articles

Text-only version for printing

Web Site Links top

Drug Enfrocement Administration, U.S. DOJ
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/
This site offers statistics, information on drugs, traffickers and fugitives and a series of publications, including several dealing with legalization issues.

Drug Policy Alliance
http://www.lindesmith.org/
This organization, a drug policy research institute that claims to be "the nation's leading organization working to end the war on drugs," has an extensive full-text library of documents on drugs and drug policy, bibliographies, news, and research briefs.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDAHome.html
NIDA is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This site includes an excellent article on marijuana as well as materials in Spanish.

NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)
http://norml.org/
The most well-known organization working to reform marijuana laws, NORML has links to news, legislation, state-wide initiatives, medical use information, and information about the uses of hemp.

ONDCP : Office of the National Drug Control Policy
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/index.html
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a component of the Executive Office of the President, was established by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. Information includes drug facts and stats ; national drug control policy ; prevention and education ; science, medicine and technology ; enforcement and treatment. Legalization isn't addressed, but the national drug control policy and the facts and statistics may be useful for this topic.

Thinking About Drug Legalization
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=981
Report on the legal and political issues surrounding the war on drugs by the Cato Institute.

Toward Drug Legalization : A Conversation with Gustavo de Greiff / by Maria Botey Pascual
http://www.narconews.com/Issue26/article537.html
While many sites on this subject are against the legalization of drugs, this site presents the opposite view from a man who was Attorney General of Colombia, and who has seen the effects of the drug war first hand. The parent site, http://www.narconews.com/, is a very current and provides some interesting, dynamic, and passionate arguments against the drug war.

Online Databases (Rio Hondo Students only) top

CQ Researcher
Features updated reports by the Congressional Research Service on current topics. Enter in 'drug legalization' or 'illegal drugs' to bring up reports on the topic, or other search terms.

Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com
Features updated reference reports on current topics in the news. Enter in 'drug legalization' or other terms and search, or browse topic listing for topics under drugs.

Books top
The following books can be located in the Rio Hondo College Library.

Reference Books
Non-circulating:

Drug abuse sourcebook : basic consumer health information about illicit substances of abuse ... (Health references series)
Call number: Ref HV5801.D724 2004

Drugs, alcohol, and tobacco : learning about addictive behavior
Call number: Ref HV5804.D78 2003

Taking sides. Clashing views in drugs and society
Call number: Ref HV5825.T37 2006

Suggested Subject Headings
For additional titles on this topic at Rio Hondo, click on the following Library of Congress subject headings:

Substance abuse--Government policy

Library Catalog top
Use the box below to search for additional resources in Rio Hondo College Library.

Media top
The following media can be located in the Rio Hondo College Library, to be viewed in the Library.

The battle over how to fight the war on drugs
Call number: Video 000440
Summary: An analysis and debate on conflicting approaches to preventing drug abuse and trafficking.

Articles top
The Rio Hondo College Library provides online access to full-text articles through our online databases. Please note: you must be a Rio Hondo College student, faculty, staff or board member to use these services.

The sample searches and articles below are from the ProQuest database. If you are viewing this subject guide from an on-campus computer, simply click on the links below. To gain access if you are at home or off-campus, first click here: https://rioweb.riohondo.edu/library/. Input your student ID number and password [your birthdate]. You will see a list of all the online databases to which you have access. Click on ProQuest and enter the database. You may conduct your own searches at this point or come back to this subject guide and click on any of the links below:

(SUB (drug legalization) )
(SUB (drug legalization) and debate )
(SUB (drug legalization) and not SUB (marijuana) )
(SUB (drug legalization) and SUB (drug policy) )
(SUB (drugs) and SUB (society))

Researched and evaluated by:
M. Hogarth, Librarian, 6/2000
last update: C. Oldham, Librarian 11/2009

top