Here is an
article that advocates the legalization of drugs as a method of solving the war on drugs. To be honest, I have recently been considering the cost versus the benefits of the war on drugs and whether if legal cheap drugs would be a better solution than prohibition.
The problem with the war on drugs is that it is generally a supply side attack. US Officials target the suppliers of the drug. Drug addicts maintain their need for the substance even though their dealer may be in jail. Constricting the supply without mitigating the demand causes drugs to become scarce and therefore the price goes up. As the price (and therefore the profits) rise the incentive for criminals to engage in the drug trade increases. Politicians are not willing to prosecute drug users to the same extent as drug suppliers since the addicts are considered victims.
So since no one is really willing to crack down on the drug demand as well as the supply, the economics of the war on drugs works against ever finding a resolution. Also, since drugs are illegal only criminals are attracted to supplying it. The criminals, in order to take advantage of economies of scale, organize into "corporations" which then compete with one another for market share. Of course criminal corporate competition takes the form of violence and corruption. There is too much demand and too much money to be made.
On the other hand, by legalizing and regulating drugs not only can the government tax the sale of drugs (for funds to be used in rehabilitation), but this removes the economic cycle of the drug war. Basically the government and other legal and less violent corporations undercut the market share of the criminals. Thus a lot of the corruption and violence associated with drugs will likely evaporate.
Now when alcohol prohibition was lifted the number of alcoholics rose, and it seems certain that with the stigma of illegality removed from drugs certain people that otherwise would have stayed away from drugs would become users. So the question is what is better, the violence and the money associated with criminal drug corporations, or the increase in health costs due to higher drug use once it is legalized.
Perhaps, just as smoking has declined due to social pressures, drug use could be stigmatized enough to prevent a large increase in drug use if they became legal. Anyway, it would be interesting to see the result. Too bad we don't have a model Earth that we could use to try out theories before they are put in place.
