The Laws of Supply and Demand and the War on Drugs

The war on drugs was a failure. The best way to win the war on drugs is to end their prohibition immediately.

I understand that this idea is frequently viewed by many as a surrender in the war on drugs, and that the message sent by this action would be that drugs are ok. I believe that to be completely untrue. Rather than a surrender, it is a shift in strategy, and in a very real sense, using the "war on drugs" idea, it could be equated to using nuclear weapons on the drug lords of the world.

Everybody is familiar with the laws of supply and demand.

The fact of the matter is that we are fighting the war on drugs from the wrong angle. We are focusing countless resources on the supply side - from local law enforcement, federal agencies, even the US Military, and spend very little, by comparison, on the demand side - drug treatment and rehabilitation, drug awareness, etc.

By focusing so strongly on the supply side, we do very little to decrease demand, and in fact, in many cases, we actually increase it.

My plan deliveres a one-two punch.

First, we legalize and regulate the majority of the drugs deemed illegal today. Picture the giant mushroom cloud as it vaporizes the illegal drug market. Picture drug kingpins losing their biggest source of revenue, all with a simple stroke of a pen. Picture street gangs disbanded, as their way of life is taken away from them. Picture back alley drug deals gone bad, or even the drug deals gone good, for that matter, now just gone.

Production of these illegal drugs done legitimately has two benefits. One, it can be done far cheaper than the illegal drug manufacture. Two, it can be regulated, meaning consistency, and meaning that, while most illegal drugs are clearly very unsafe, you would actually know what you were getting.

By producing legally, we could then tax everything to current street prices, and there would be a huge wave of revenue - a very nice change from the huge expense currently incurred fighting drug distribution and production.

Now the funds that were spent fighting the supply side of the drug war are now free to be used elsewhere. Tax revenue from legal drugs roll in. The war has changed completely.