A New Kind of Drug War
By Christopher Farrell
BusinessWeek
"The conventional one has been highly costly, with little return. Making narcotics legal -- and very expensive -- can reduce addiction and crime"
Our current National Drug Control Strategy already involves keeping drug prices artificially high (through enforcement). Why suggest a legalization scheme which includes the same failed policy?
BusinessWeek
"The conventional one has been highly costly, with little return. Making narcotics legal -- and very expensive -- can reduce addiction and crime"
Our current National Drug Control Strategy already involves keeping drug prices artificially high (through enforcement). Why suggest a legalization scheme which includes the same failed policy?
posted by Loretta Nall at
5:56 AM
2 Comments:
It is interesting that the author makes no mention of the use-reduction impact of the relatively recent warning labels on cigarettes and alcohol.
I would rather see 50% of the space on "legalized drug" package labels devoted to accurate, detailed, health risk and treatment information, with additional information on package inserts. (this is much more than the currently tiny, often unreadable warnings on alcoholic beverage labels)
This would put "Drug Education" right into the hands of those who would use or abuse drugs.
When people are properly and accurately informed about the risks of drug use, most people would not abuse drugs.
Taxing legalized drugs enough to pay for treatment and health care costs is reasonable.
Taxing legalized drugs so highly that junkies would be forced to steal to get money for a fix is going entirely too far.
Zen
http://profiles.yahoo.com/zen4usa
By
Anonymous, at 8:11 AM
What Zen said, with an embellishment:
The idea that you could legalize yet maintain artificially high prices - such as we experience with illicits already - is just plain idiotic. The market, in best capitalust tradition, will find it's own level. And that level will drop precipitously once legalization intitiates open competition free from the dangers of the black market. The obvious precedent proving this is alcohol Prohibition.
This scheme is a transparently lame attempt to maintain the status quo, with the present system of law enforcement being 'maintained' on it's 'fix'. The black marketeers wouldn't vanish; on the contrary, they'd still thrive, as consumers would seek out lower prices free from entanglements with 'revenuers'. Only full legalization with present illicits in the same price range as tobacco and alcohol will cut the narcotrafficantes off at the knees.
Assuming of course, the government actually wanted to do that; somehow, given their reluctance, I question their earnestness in doing so
By
Anonymous, at 3:41 PM
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