Suchergebnisse

The supply of heroin in the United States appears to have grown substantially in recent years, although it is not clear what impact this has had on consumption. Conventional indicators have shown only modest increases, but for a variety of reasons one would not expect increases even if we are in the early years of a new heroin use epidemic. It is even less clear what, if anything, should be done. Drug control resources are finite. Making heroin a new policy focus may impose substantial opportunity costs as resources are diverted from other worthy programs. On the other hand, the history of cocaine in the late 1970s and early 1980s demonstrates that "wait and see" can be an extremely expensive option. A prudent course may be to implement relatively low-cost interventions that one would not regret undertaking even if a new epidemic never materialized and to enhance monitoring. If these enhanced monitoring programs gave strong signs of increasing use, particularly by new users, bolder interventions might be warranted.

Though the US heroin supply appears to have grown substantially in recent years, it is unclear what impact this has had on consumption. Even the modest increases exhibited thus far may portend the start of a new epidemic. Drug control resources are finite, however, & making heroin a new policy focus may impose substantial opportunity costs as resources are diverted from other worthy programs. However, the history of cocaine in the late 1970s & early 1980s demonstrates that waiting can be an extremely expensive option. It is suggested that relatively low-cost interventions be considered, even if a new epidemic never materialized, & to enhance monitoring. If these programs gave strong signs of increasing use, particularly by new users, bolder interventions might be warranted. Adapted from the source document.

"Should we legalize marijuana? If we legalize, what in particular should be legal? Just possessing marijuana and growing your own? Selling and advertising? If selling becomes legal, who gets to sell? Corporations? Co-ops? The government? What regulations should apply? How high should taxes be? Different forms of legalization could bring very different results. This second edition of Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know® discusses what is happening with marijuana policy, describing both the risks and the benefits of using marijuana, without taking sides in the legalization debate. The book details the potential gains and losses from legalization, explores the "middle ground" options between prohibition and commercialized production, and considers the likely impacts of legal marijuana on occasional users, daily users, patients, parents, and employers - and even on drug traffickers."--Publisher

In Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to KnowRG, Mark A. R. Kleiman, Jonathan P. Caulkins, and Angela Hawken will provide a comprehensive introduction to domestic drug policy. They will address topics ranging from the basic biology of drug addiction, to the rationale behind drug policies and moves to legalize drugs, approaches to enforcement, drug abuse prevention, treatment, drug-related crime, prevalence of use, medical benefits of drugs, pricing of drugs, international policy, the connection between trafficking and terrorism, and the socio-cultural elements of drug policy

Abstract
The standard model of markets for illicit drugs predicts that tougher enforcement against sellers will raise prices; yet cocaine and heroin prices have fallen substantially during a period of massive increases in enforcement. We present a model in which the basic mechanisms at work in the textbook model may be substantially altered by an important feature of illegal markets—violence that creates inheritable heterogeneity along a dimension that both determines relevant production cost and imposes externalities on other suppliers. Dealers frequently make use of violence and threat of violence in the normal course of trade. A seller who is particularly effective in the use of violence may face lower enforcement costs than other dealers and generate an external cost borne by those sellers. Together these features generate a number of counter-intuitive policy implications. For example the arrest of a particularly violent dealer reduces external costs borne by other dealers. The net effect is a possible reduction in costs for the marginal dealer and hence a reduction in price.

AbstractOn November 6, 2012, citizens in three U.S. states will vote on whether to legalize production, distribution, possession, and sale of marijuana for general—not just medical—use. Legalization is typically imagined as an up or down, binary choice. However, a comparison of 17 legalization proposals actively discussed in various U.S. states in 2012 reveals differences that would have important consequences for price, availability, arrest‐risk, use, and, hence, health. This paper divides the proposals into three broad categories and assesses their political feasibility. It then addresses the implications of state‐level legalization, and possible federal responses to it, for retail price, tax revenues, and spill‐over effects in other states where marijuana would remain illegal.