I never in a million years pictured myself saying that we should legalize drugs in the United States, this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7045183/ by Christopher Farrell changed my mind. He talks of how some $33 billion have been spent on the prosecution of drug offenders in recent years. The article discusses legalizing drugs and regulating them like we do cigarettes and alcohol, by restricting sale to minors and imposing steep taxes.
Most people are frightened by this concept. It is scary to think you could walk into a local liquor store and by narcotics but obviously prohibition and prosecution are not working. There is a big enough demand and plenty of drug lords to supply the demand that those who want it know how to get it. I say lets legalize drugs, and place a stiff tax on the purchase of those drugs, which in turn will lower the cost of finding and fighting the law breakers. I do believe the tax should be stiff enough to deter just anyone from buying it, and low enough to kill the underground drug traffic. Like the author says, "You can't ignore that price matters even in this market."
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All I can say is I'm glad that students (and others) are starting to get the message that economists have been sending for quite a while.
(I'm not trying to be arrogant about this - to an economist, prohibition of something with inelastic demand just doesn't make sense, so brighter people than me have been saying this for a long time).
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