Beckley Briefing Paper Number 7 - Incarceration of drug offenders: Costs and impacts

This paper looks at the pros and cons of pursuing a policy of large-scale arrest and incarceration of drug users. Taking the USA as the main example of this approach, the authors examine the costs of incarceration in terms of public expenditure, and consequential impacts on health and social cohesion, and the impact on drug use prevalence and markets through incapacitation of users, access to treatment, and deterrence.