To Build a Bridge: The Use of Foreign Models by Domestic Critics of U.S. Drug Policy

Domestic critics of American policy concerning illicit drugs have frequently looked abroad for evidence to bolster their agenda. Policies developed elsewhere, specifically heroin maintenance in Britain and harm reduction in Holland, have profoundly affected debate over the American approach to addiction. In each instance, the interest in foreign models was whetted by a perceived social emergency: the heroin epidemic following World War II and the HIV epidemic of the last decade.