The U.S. has been conducting a "demand-side" war on drugs for decades.
Some results:
1) Narcotics traffic into the U.S. has increased during this time.
2) Federal and state tax commitments for the policing and incarceration of non-violent drug offenders have skyrocketed.
3) In some recent instances, e.g. fentanyl-laced heroin, kids choosing to experiment are DYING because they are at the mercy of criminal vendors, i.e. no quality-control of sold chemicals.
If the costs and results of this program were audited within any for-profit corporation, the board of directors would have fired the management years ago. In the least, investors would have screamed to halt the program or cut off its funding in light of the lack of success.
What would be the likely costs and effects of removing the profit-motive for the traffickers by legalizing, taxing, and providing oversight for some of the less harmful street-drugs (turn them into standard commodities subject to free-market economics)?
2006-08-03
02:14:47
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5 answers
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asked by
El Gringo 237
3
in
Economics