While this post from earlier in the week highlighted the historical backdrop to the United States’ failed drug prohibition policy, this Telegraph.co.uk article passes along an unintended consequence of that policy that should put to rest any concerns about reconsidering it:
The Home Office has admitted that the street price of both cocaine and heroin has fallen by nearly half in the last ten years, making the most dangerous illegal drugs cheaper than they have ever been.
That means a line of cocaine can cost as little as £1, with an average price per line of between £2 and £4.
The average price of a pint of lager is around £2.75, although some pub chains have reacted to the credit crunch by cutting the price of a pint as low as 99p. A glass of wine typically costs £3.50. . . .
If drugs were legal, like alcohol, but taxed, like alcohol, and available through limited distribution channels, like alcohol, the prices would be different.
Illegal drugs are a commodity. Commodity prices are largely set by forces of supply and demand. If prices have fallen as much as they seem to have, either demand has dropped or supply has grown. If supply has grown we need to rethink the effectiveness of our approach to controlling the detrimental effects of drugs on our society. Maybe once The Messiah finds time, we can start a national dialog on our national drug policy.
Is alcohol a net revenue for the government? I know they tax it, but they also spend money regulating it. Does anyone know the net? I suspect that if we took the money lost every year fighting participants in the drug trade, we could fund all kinds of stimulative pork bills.
This issue is my one hope for the democrats while they control the government. I think if they could turn the tide of criminalization of this industry, America’s bet on the left will have paid off in spades.