I don’t think there’s any cut-and-dried answer to that question. The experience in California, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois, and other states that have legalized recreational marijuana does not support the claim. This piece by Vanda Felbab-Brown at Brookings musing on whether drug legalization in Mexico will reduce the power of the country’s gangs is not encouraging:
U.S. states where recreational cannabis use has been legalized have all needed to grapple with the persistence of large black markets in cannabis and to generate substantial resources to countering it. In the city of Durango, Colorado alone, for example, almost US $80,000 was dedicated to maintaining compliance with the state’s marijuana laws and dismantling illegal grows. That money goes to training of officers since the complexity of the marijuana laws does not make identifying all violations easy, as well as to communication and forced-entry equipment. Enforcement doesn’t come cheaply anywhere. It requires criminal investigators, enforcement program managers, dedicated district attorneys, zoning enforcement officers, environmental officers, crime analysts, deputy sheriffs, and community services officers. In California’s Stanislaus County, revenues from the legal cannabis industry generated an estimated US $3.1 million in the 2019-20 budget year, while the county’s cannabis-related costs amounted to US $1.4 million. But in fiscal year 2020-21, the anticipated cannabis-related costs for the county reached US $3.2 million while revenues were not expected to increase from US $3.1 million, an actual loss for the county.
However compelling your theory or benign your intentions, neither makes any difference. What do make a difference are the empirical results.
I suspect that as more states legalize recreational marijuana or the non-medical use of other drugs the argument will shift from legalization to deregulation and the abolition of taxes. Since, just as has been the case with the legalization of gambling, those have been sweeteners which have persuaded some legislators to the cause. It will be interesting to see how the arguments shift.
The dirty secret of Prohibition is that it worked. It reduced the rate of alcohol abuse and destroyed the saloon culture that had previously prevailed. I don’t think that anyone can seriously contend that the rate of drug abuse will decline with legalization or that the poor will benefit from more drug abuse. I do think that drug legalization will have an effect on gang activity, just not the one its proponents claim. My suspicion is that a lot of the most horrific acts of gang violence have been facilitated by the weakening of inhibitions produced by the use of recreational drugs.
I agree with many of Dave’s conclusions. Legalizing drugs will not reduce usage. And, with the lowering of inhibitions there will only be a lowering of productivity with an increase of bad behavior. This, however, is a general statement, not meant to be a one-size-fits-all tenet, as some drugs do serve medicinal and even harmless recreation purposes. But, there needs to be some kind of regulatory oversight involved in order to create limit lines, establishing a good/not good balance, as to whom and how such drugs are dispensed.
Once more, could somebody define “drug legalization”. Will all Schedule drugs become legal? If I can buy heroine, meth, and cocaine over-the-counter, why do I need a prescription for blood pressure medication?
Will the heroine producers be able to advertise? Will cocaine cut with strychnine (rat poison) be legal? Would a proper label (ingredients & warning) provide sufficient liability protection? Will any substance properly labeled and age restricted be legal? Will there be age restrictions? Since adulthood does not begin until 28, will that be the age limit?
Will addiction be classified as a medical condition? Since heroin and Adderall are both medications, will heroin be covered by health insurance? Will be a smack addict qualify one for unemployment, Medicaid, and housing assistance? Will taxes be raised?
Regarding gangsters, does anybody really believe that these killers are going to leave the game for a 9-5 gig? Really?
As usual Tasty, you are always thinking and questioning outside the box of average engagement.
However, your post contained good questions, none of which have been seriously entertained, let alone answered, to the best of my knowledge.
@jan
Thanks, but I have not forgotten what you wrote, years ago. (You must be almost 29, by now.)
I would like to still be a libertarian, but the world just does not work that way. You pointed out that there are a lot of addicts in the world, and giving them easier access to their addiction is not a good idea.
I am on-the-fence about legalizing marijuana. At the very least, I think it was rammed through without much thought, and I suspect that the results will not be all sunshine and rainbows.
I am open to legalizing drugs, but somebody needs to convince me that having a heroin section of the drug store is a good idea.
That’s basically what I think. The way I think of it is that libertarianism is a good value with which to inform your views but it’s not nearly as good as an ideology.
As TastyBits points out, some stuff is not legalized, like heroin. The same is true for prostitution. Adult prostitutes are legal in Amsterdam, but not children.
Illegal trade in drugs and sex continues after legalization because: (1) some desired products and services are not legalized; (2) illegal operations are profitable, they save on taxes, wages, medical benefits, regulations, overhead; (3) a great deal of prostitution is actual slavery, especially among illegal aliens; and (4) some illegal activities are actually conducted by the government or its agencies, e. g., the CIA’s notorious trade in cocaine and opium.
I do not want to derail the topic. I use the scientific method, and I try to falsify my beliefs. I try to be intellectually honest and philosophically consistent.
I was once a advocate of just legalizing drugs, but when I was still somewhat libertarian, @jan challenged that position. At the time, it did not convince me, but I have used it to test my position. Over the years, I have come to doubt that position.
I am open to being convinced, but I think the burden of proof is on the legalize side.
Is anyone other than a few anarcho-capitlaists advocating for legalizing all drugs? Cant remember the last time I read someone advocating to legalize heroin, cocaine or meth. Rand estimates that the drug trade generates about $150 billion. About 1/3 of that is marijuana. So gangs wont go away but they do lose a lot of business.
https://www.rand.org/news/press/2019/08/20.html
Steve
which, as I’ve said, they will make up elsewhere. What that tells me is that legalizing drugs needs to be able to stand on merits other than that it will eliminate gangs.
@steve
Specifically, which drugs will be legalized?