Generación de Nuevo Conocimiento: Artículos publicados en revistas especializadas - Electrónicos
Prohibition, regulation or free market: a mapping of Colombian people’s perspectives regarding national drug policies
Fecha
2015-02-15Autor
López López, Wilson
Pineda Marín, Claudia
Sorum, Paul C.
Mullet, Etienne
Institución
Resumen
Colombian laypersons’ perspectives regarding actual and potential drug policies
were examined. Adults (N = 395) aged 18–68 and living in Bogota were presented
with 24 vignettes that were composed according to two within-subject orthogonal factor
designs: (a) Demand for drugs in the country 9 Current government policy regarding soft
and hard drugs (from ‘‘laissez faire’’ policy for all drugs to complete prohibition of all
drugs) and (b) Information campaigns regarding the dangerousness of drugs 9 Current
policy. Participants rated the level of acceptability of each policy. Seven different perspectives
were identified that can be grouped into five broad views. The first one (50 % of
participants) was called ‘‘radical constructionists’’ because participants considered that all
policies were unacceptable. The second one (19 %) was called ‘‘cultural conservatives’’
because only one drug policy was considered fully acceptable: complete prohibition
(although half of the members of this group were willing to allow soft drugs to be sold
freely). The third one (14 %) was called ‘‘progressive prohibitionists’’ because the preferred
policies in this group were either complete prohibition or complete regulation by the
government. The fourth one (8 %) was called ‘‘free trade libertarians’’ because the
dominant opinion was that the drug market should be free. The last one (5 %) was called
‘‘progressive advocates of legalization’’ because the preferred policy in this group was
complete regulation of all substances. In most cases, the presence of information campaigns
was highly valued. Methodological implications and implications for decisionmakers
are discussed.