Problem #1: The War on Drugs
Note: I don’t intend any of these essays to be exhaustive, scholarly papers, merely my attempts- in French, “essaies”- to suggest solutions and provoke thought.
I’ll start “30 Days, 30 Problems” with a relatively easy fix: the War on Drugs. Given that this has gone on for more than 40 years, at a cost of more than a trillion dollars, with no end in sight1, you might wonder why I’d ever use it as my first problem. Well, it fits my requirements: it’s actually a fairly easy problem to define, and one for which there is a workable solution.
First things first: let’s define the nature of the problem. The War on Drugs looks at drugs as a moral issue, or even a national security issue, rather than as the economic issue that it is. Simply put, drugs are a product for which a certain demand exists. Simple economics indicates that, if there’s a demand for a product, and a potential profit to be made by satisfying said demand, then someone will attempt to satisfy the demand. Increse the profit- which is precisely what you do when you ban it, thereby making it harder to both acquire and sell- and you increase the profit, thereby making it more, not less, likely that such a black market will appear.
I propose a three-pronged solution: legalise, tax, and regulate. Note: I don’t suggest that we do this for all drugs, only marijuana (at least for now). Why marijuana? For one thing, it’s incredibly safe, as it is literally impossible to overdosde on it2. Certainly, there are lung issues from inhalation of any smoked product, but given that we already accept said issues with tobacco use, no rational argument can made for this as a reason to continue marijuana prohibition. As another matter, the spectre of marijuana as a “gateway drug” to harder drugs has been disproven3.
By legalising and regulating marijuana, you undercut crime in several ways. First, you have the ability to undercut black market dealing both on price and by selling it at a well-regulated store- safe, well-lit, and professionally-staffed. This will, one assumes, be a more inviting and safer place for people to buy pot than a guy on a street corner, also probably trying to sell you crack, PCP, etc. Further, legalisation will allow for production of a product that is safer to use, as it can be professionally cultivated like any crop, rather than done furtively, perhaps resulting in a product contaminated by herbicides.
Finally, there is the matter of taxation. This needs to be seen in a larger context, that of the money to be saved by not prosecuting and jailing marijuana users and dealers, plus the money that would be collected by taxing the sale of marijuana. Nationally, 750,000 people were arrested last year for marijuana4, compared to 500,000 people arrested for violent crimes. Legalise marijuana, and that instantly adds up to at least 750,000 new instances of tax revenue going into government coffers, rather than flowing out of them.
The model I suggest will strike some as amusing: The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. The PLCB was established after the end of Prohibition with the goal of making alcohol use, if not illegal, at least somewhat inconvenient and profitable for the Commonwealth. It has done so. Annually, the PLCB brings in $494 million to the PA State Treasury. Sell marijuana at State Stores, or comparably state drug stores, and that number will soar (depending on the tax rate)6. The combination of legalisation + the PLCB has successfully turned alcohol from an expensive drain on PA’s economy to a boon for it, and legalising marijuana could to the same for it.
Endnotes:
1. http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/branson-end-war-on-drugs
2. http://www.mpp.org/reports/faq-mj.htm
3. http://www.ibtimes.com/nobel-prize-winner-says-tobacco-not-marijuana-gateway-drug-heels-legalization-bill-pa-1008368
4. http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2012/10/29/over-750000-arrests-for-marijuana-last-year/
5. "Yuengling A History of America's Oldest Brewery by Mark A. Noon, p 131. ISBN 0-7864-1972-5. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005.
6. http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/PLCB/About/FAQs/index.htm
I'm late to the game, I admit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about legalization of marijuana (abbreviated hereinafter as MJ) though I go a little farther, with the hope of someday legalizing all currently-illegal drugs.
As you point out, MJ is about as safe as cigarettes in terms of direct effects on the user, and it's really no worse than alcohol in terms of indirect effects (meaning motor vehicle crashes or other accidents, etc., the cause of which can be attributed to an impaired state).
One interesting challenge is that there's currently no objective method or standard to establish intoxication by MJ. Common drug screens are a qualitative measure, meaning they detect the presence of marijuana metabolites. However, these metabolites can remain present in urine long after the physical effects of MJ. (By comparison, alcohol levels are quantitative, and 0.08% is the accepted US standard for presumed intoxication, regardless of physical signs/symptoms). Imagine having used MJ ~5 days previously, and getting into a motor vehicle crash. If drug testing is performed, you'll test positive for MJ metabolites. Currently, this is very bad news for you.
However, we part ways at your recommendation of state-controlled vending. I'm fine with regulation and taxation by the states (and likely the feds as well) just as with alcohol and tobacco. But state-controlled liquor stores are an abomination. This article has some specifics about the problems with Pennsylvania's.