Table of Contents
Page 1
Is drug addiction best viewed from the perspective of the Skinner Box or Rat Park?
The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think
Behavioral conditioning has played a large part in treatment of addiction.
Ivan Pavlov proved that learning could be enhanced by timely rewards.
B. F. Skinner proved that learning could be promoted by negative and positive feedback.
Skinner provided a teaching model based on reinforcement or punishment of observable behavior.
Skinner was dissatisfied with psychological theory that could not be objectively measured..
Skinner advocated positive and negative reinforcement, and identified the shortcomings of positive and negative punishment.
Page 3
In studying addiction, Professor Bruce K. Alexander replaced the Skinner Box with Rat Park.
Page 4
How did B. F. Skinner view crime and punishment?
VIDEO: 4 min. 46 sec.: B. F. Skinner’s Shaping Experiment (“Skinner’s Box”)
Page 5
To Conform to the United Nations’ Zero Tolerance Rule, Legalization of Drugs Was Not an Option in Portugal.
Portugal, staying within UN prohibitions, has shown that addiction tolerance can reduce drug addiction
This Is Working’: Portugal, 12 Years after Decriminalizing Drugs [in 2001]
[A Drug Violation Is] Much the Same as a Parking Violation [in Portugal]
Page 6
Without legalizing drugs, Portugal has chosen to treat drug-addicted citizens as citizens, not criminals.
The Second Time Brings Consequences
Page 7
Do government statistics on non-violent marijuana incarcerations show that the punishment fits the crime?
Who’s Really in Prison for Marijuana?
Page 8
Given lesser sentences for violent crime than for non-violent drug crime, is the “war on drugs” reasonable, or is it a witch hunt?
Page 9
Could the U. S. benefit from decriminalization of personal drug use, while keeping drugs illegal?
After Treating Son’s Head Injury with Cannabis Oil, Minnesota Mom Faces Jail Time
Page 10
Cartoonist Stuart McMillen got his Rat Park drug experiment research right, and tells us how he did it.
A bustle in the cage-row: the making of Rat Park
Page 11
Could decriminalization while keeping drugs illegal (reducing punishment, offering alternatives) beneficially replace the war on drugs?
If the U.S. could replicate Portugal’s results, how many drug-users might avoid prison terms?
Page 12
A treatment in lieu of incarceration program has had success in Brooklyn, New York.
Decriminalization of drug use could greatly reduce the U. S. prison population.
Page 13
VIDEO: 5 min. 3 sec. Traffic (2000) – Robert Wakefield’s Speech: Michael Douglas performs the role of Robert Wakefield, newly appointed U. S. drug czar, in the film, “Traffic.”
Page 14
Professor Bruce Alexander’s view of the war on drugs: “The war on drugs is an idea whose time has passed.”
Page 15
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