What are the possible effects on the economy of drug legalization?

Question

This is for legalization of all drugs (marijuana, cocaine, crack, ecstatsy, heroin, opium, etc...) What will the economic effects (benfits vs. costs) be? Take into consideration countries where marijuana and other drugs are legal.

Answer 1

I asume with my answer that you are talking about the legalization of all illicit drugs, including "hard" drugs.

The effect on the economy should be several fold. First, by legalizing drugs, it is likely that a real market for some of the types of drugs will be redeveloped, with emphasis on the safety of the drug. In addition, with legal competition, a lof of the harmful additives that are sometime used in drugs will decrease, thereby resulting in safer to use drugs. In addition the potency of the drugs may become regulated, making them less addictive while still providing a high. In short, the first effect of legalization will likely be that a legitimate market for some types of drugs will develop, and like all markets, the product will be improved, with greater emphasis on safety. The likely result will therefore be a decrease in fatalities from drug use.
A secondary result may be that use will increase, although this is debatable. Many opponents off legalization claim that legalization will cause an increase in drug use, however there4 is evidence to show that this may not happen. For example the most addicitve drug (and by the way legal) is nicotine. Despite its addicitveness and legality, smoking is down in the US and continues to fall. Why has this happened with sigarettes? One possible explanation is increasing regulation of the industry, but a more probable reason is that smoking has become socially unacceptable in large parts of the country. in additon people have become more educated about the risks of smoking, and used that knowledge to avoid use and addiction. It is likely that the legalization will lead to a similar result. While there may be a short term increase in drug use after legalization, the increased regulation of legalized drugs and education about its dangers will likely mean that drug use will remain relatively constant.

One very real benefit of drug legalization will be to allow states to increase revenue. Currently the biggest tax revensue sources of state governments come from taxes on real estate, gas and sigarettes and alcohol. Adding legalized drugs to the list of revenue soueces will give states a large increase in revenue that can be used for education and rehabilitation of drug addicts. Thee increased taxation will also decrease demand for the drugs, legal or not.

A final benefit, and this cannot be overstated, is that legalization of drugs will decrease crime across the country and devestate organized crime. The criminal element lives off the drug trade. i worked for the public defenders office respresenting people at their arraingment hearings. nearly all of them (90%+) were in jail for drug related charges. Most of US prisons are filled with drug users and drug dealers. A lof of violent crime is the direct result of drug dealing and traffiking. By legalizing the drug trade, the organized crime cartels will be deprived of their primary source of illicit trade. With the rise of legitimate business, they will no longer have monopolies over markets that they currently defend with the power of the gun. A good example if you look to history is the the era of the 1920s during which the use and sale of alcohol was made illigal under the US constitution. What resulted was the rise of the american mafia incuduing some of the most infamous crime boses like Al Capone. When the amendment was repealed and alcohol was made legal again the alcohol cartels went out of business, which resulted in drops if violence and organized crime. the same effect can largemly be expected if drugs were legalized. The effect on crime will therefore be two fold: (1) oganized crime that depends on the drug trade wil decline or die out, which wil lead to less corruption and violence on the streets (2) the cost of administering our justice system and prosecuting drug users and ditributers will disaper. if we legalized drugs today, i would imagine that more than 50% of the lawyers, both prosecutors and public defenders would be out of work. So would a lot of the jail, both public and state run ones. The benefit to the public in the form of lower taxes would be astronomical to say the least.

These are just some of the benefits, and there are whole papers and books ritten on this subject. if you are curious about this subject look up information on the criminal justice system and statistics on drug related prosecution.

Answer 2

Legalization of illegal drugs as a consequence will:
The production of drugs will be enhance with technology openly apply which will reduce production costs.
Another is that the transportation of the product will be done using logistic efficient companies such UPS, Federal Express, DHL, etc. It will be very likely that production and processing will be local.
Distribution, now, you will be able to buy the drugs in the local pharmacy. No more adventure trying to buy them without been caught.
All these factors will push the drug price down for effect. Once the drug dealers feel and see that anybody can get drugs at a cheaper price there will be no more incentive for them to stay in the supply line. It will reduce crime in the city, the multiple crimes that are committed in relation to drugs.
I can see that the effects don’t stop here, but I will.

Answer 3

It would reduce government expenditures for law enforcement and incarceration. It likely would increase tax revenues due to taxation of the sales. It is difficult to say whether there would be an impact on productivity, due to an increase in drug abuse. I personally doubt that current law enforcement is significantly restraining the use of drugs, so I don't think their legalization would lead to a significant increase in use and abuse. The cost of drugs that are now illegal would decline dramatically. The great majority of the underground economy currently surrounding the drug trade would come above ground, perhaps slightly increasing economic output.

What may be the most important benefit would be the reduction in the need for interdiction, and therefore for intrusions on privacy by enforcement agencies.

Answer 4

Legalization of all drugs would Anglo country like America, UK would cause more deaths from the use of crack, cocaine espeically because those drugs are complusive type use in nature, and lawsuits from companies providing these drugs would clog up the court system with lawsuits from death using these products. The benefit would be tax dollars saved from jailing drug offenders, and would leave police officers to perform more perventive policing to prevent bigger crimes, and lead to better traffic enforcment. Private Jail industry in America would hate legalization because you cut into thier profit margins. I personally think Marijuana should be legal from personal expierence seeing 60 yr old men toking for the last 30 to 40 years, and they never committed robbery, murder for pot, and they worked regular and paid taxes. The other drugs are too dangerous to be legal becaue the potiental of dealth just trying those drugs once. Netherlands legalize all drugs, but thier society and culture does not got the legal system like Anglo countries with sue happy lawyers.