Questioning the deterrance effect
The criminal justice approach relies on faith in the law’s power as a deterrent, as well as the idea that people choose to use drugs because they expect the rewards to be higher than the risks. In this context, criminal sanctions are intended to deter people from trying drugs or shifting to more harmful ones.
Looking at the world from this angle, we would expect the reduction of punishments (including through decriminalisation or legalisation) to cause the use of drugs to rise, and when a drug becomes illegal (as BZP did in 2008) or penalties are strengthened (as when methamphetamine was reclassified from Class B to Class A in 2003), use of that drug should fall.
In practice, things do not appear so clear cut. A 1999 report into United Kingdom drug laws by the Police Foundation found that “such evidence as we have assembled about the current situation and the changes that have taken place in the last 30 years all point to the conclusion that the deterrent effect of the law has been very limited.”
Deterrence critically relies on individual perception. Everybody has a different perception of risks and rewards, influenced by their social context, personal psychology and core values. This makes the provision of information a vital – and often neglected – element of deterrence-based public policy. People cannot be deterred from doing something if they do not understand the risks involved. For some people, the very fact that a drug is illegal will deter them from using it.
For similar reasons, people may choose not to jay-walk or to ride a bike without a helmet. However, legal status has clearly not proven a strong barrier to cannabis use in New Zealand, which is among the world’s highest.
According to sociologists and psychologists, legal sanctions may be less important than other factors in discouraging drug use. Their research tells us that social sanctions may prove more important, such as public exposure and shame if one is exposed as a person who uses illicit drugs. People are also affected by the fear of the effects of a drug, the fear of looking ‘uncool’ and the fear of embarrassing their family or community.
New Zealand research shows that non-cannabis users are much more likely to say they are simply “not interested” in the substance than to cite the risk of legal sanctions as their reason for abstaining.
Evidence shows that perception of health risks can be more important than legal sanction. The UK Police Foundation report concluded that “the public sees the health-related dangers of drugs as much more of a deterrent to use than their illegality.” The declining rate of smoking in New Zealand during the 1980s and 1990s highlights the potential benefits of a strong public information campaign about health risks associated with a drug.
