AGENDA-SETTING AND POLICY RESULTS - LESSONS FROM 3 DRUG POLICY EPISODES

This paper focuses on three episodes of U.S. policymaking concerning illicit drugs, one during the Nixon administration, during the Carter administration, and the contemporary war on drugs Drawing upon evidence from drug-related Cong Congressional hearings, the Gallup Poll counts of relevant articles in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature and content analysis of the New York Times Index, the three episodes are characterized as fitting one of Cobb, Ross, and Ross's (1976) models of agenda-setting. The paper then considers the linkage between these differences in agenda setting and the very different policy content of each episode. While the Nixon and Carter episode exemplify the dynamics of ''mobilization'' and ''inside access'' agenda setting respectively, the contemporary drug policy episode is anomalous. It suggests the need for an extension of the Cobb, Ross, and Ross typology to incorporate a new, ''network'' type of agenda setting.