Operation Intercept: The Multiple Consequences of Public Policy analyzes the taken-for-granted reality of the search-and-destroy anti-marihuana legislation. This book focuses on the Operation Intercept, a policy that aims to control the importation of illegal drugs, marihuana in particular, across the United States-Mexican border. Chapter 1 discusses the objectives of Operation Intercept and the factors and assumptions underlying this policy. Chapter 2 examines the availability of marihuana during the Operation Intercept period and the unanticipated consequences of such policy decision. Chapter 3 presents data that confirms marihuana shortage in New York City during the summer and early fall of 1969. Lastly, Chapter 4 provides an appraisal of anti-drug policies in the past and an examination of the general drug abuse problem in the United States. Sociologists who are interested in deviant behavior and social problems will find this book invaluable.

Preface
Notes

Acknowledgments

1. Operation Intercept: The Policy and the Research Problem

Factors and Assumptions Underlying the New Public Policy

Operation Intercept: Immediate, Intermediate, and Ultimate Goals

Purpose of the Study, Applied Theoretical Perspectives, and Hypotheses

Formulation of the Research Problem and Methodology

Notes

2. The Multiple Consequences of Operation Intercept

The Availability of Marijuana During the Operation Intercept Era

Summary

Behavioral Reactions to the General Marijuana Shortage

Abstaining and Decreased Drug Use

Switching: The Availability and Use of Drugs Other than Marijuana

Summary

Attitudinal Responses to the Government Policy

Summary

Trusting Attitudes

Distrustful Attitudes

Notes

3. Analysis of the Findings: Public Policy and the Drug Abuse Problem

The Findings

Additional Evidence Concerning the Unanticipated Consequences of Operation Intercept

The Social Context of Operation Intercept: An Examination of Contingent Conditions

Traditional Controls in a Decade of Change

The Ineffectiveness of Traditional Controls and the Formation of the Operation Intercept Policy

An Analysis of the Differential Effects of Operation Intercept

Notes

4. Operation Intercept: Past, Present, and Future

Notes

Appendix I. Members of the Narcotics, Marijuana and Dangerous Drugs Task Force

II. The Interview Guide

III. Findings from Gross Point Study: Interview Excerpts

Index