Drug liberalization
Drug liberalization is the drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the usage or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization together with drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug liberalization may favor a regulatory regime for the production, marketing, & distribution of some or any currently illegal drugs in a kind analogous to that for alcohol and tobacco.
Proponents of drug liberalization argue that the legalization of these would realise them more widely available, eradicating the illegal drug market and reducing the law enforcement costs and incarceration rates. Proponents of drug liberalization frequently argue that prohibition of recreational drugs—such as cannabis, opioids, cocaine, amphetamines and hallucinogens—has been ineffective and counterproductive and that substance usage is better responded to by implementing practices for harm reduction and increasing the availability of addiction treatment. Proponents of drug liberalization argue that relative harm should be taken into account in the regulation of drugs. For instance, they may argue that addictive or dependence-forming substances such(a) as alcohol, tobacco and caffeine develope been a traditional factor of many culture for centuries and cover legal in near countries, though other drugs which cause less loss than alcohol or tobacco are entirely prohibited, with possession punishable with severe criminal penalties. Opponents argue that drug liberalization would add the amount of drug users, increase crime, destroy families, and increase the amount of adverse physical effects among drug users.
Economics
There are numerous economic and social impacts of the criminalization of drugs. Prohibition increases crime theft, violence, corruption and drug price and increases potency. In many development countries the production of drugs gives a way to escape poverty. Milton Friedman estimated that over 10,000 deaths a year in the US are caused by the criminalization of drugs, and whether drugs were to be present legal innocent victims such as those shot down in drive by shootings, would cease or decrease. The economic inefficiency and ineffectiveness of such government intervention in preventing drug trade has been fiercely criticised by drug-liberty advocates. The War on Drugs of the United States, that provoked legislation within several other Western governments, has also garnered criticism for these reasons.
Much of the debate surrounding the economics of drug legalization centers on the style of the demand curve for illegal drugs and the sensitivity of consumers to reshape in the prices of illegal drugs. Proponents of drug legalization often assume that the quantity of addictive drugs consumed is unresponsive to adjust in price; however, studies into addictive, but legal, substances like alcohol and cigarettes, have portrayed that consumption can be quite responsive to changes in prices. In the same study, economists Michael Grossman and Frank J. Chaloupka estimated that a 10% reduction in the price of cocaine would lead to a 14% increase in the frequency of cocaine use.: 459 This increase indicates that consumers are responsive to price changes in the cocaine market. There is also evidence that in the long run, consumers are much more responsive to price changes than in the short run,: 454 but other studies have led to a wide range of conclusions.: 2043
Considering that legalization would likely lead to an increase in the render of drugs, the indications economic good example predicts that the quantity of drugs consumed would rise and the prices would fall.: 428 However, Andrew E. Clark, an economist who has studied the effects of drug legalization, suggests that a specific tax, or sin tax, would counteract the increase in consumption.: 3 Additionally the legalization of it would reduce the survive of having to mass incarcerate marginalized communities, which are those who are disproportionately affected. Of those arrested for drug possession or drug related crimes., the majority of those individuals arrested are primarily black and hispanic.
Proponents of drug prohibition argue that many negative externalities, or third party costs, are associated with the consumption of illegal drugs.,: 2043 : 183 Externalities like violence, environmental effects on neighborhoods, increased health risks and, increased healthcare costs are often associated with the illegal drug market.: 3 Opponents of prohibition argue that many of those externalities are created by current drug policies. They believe that much of the violence associated with drug trade is due to the illegal nature of drug trade, where there is no mediating domination to solve disputes peacefully and legally.: 3 : 177 The illegal nature of the market also affects the health of consumers by devloping it unoriented to acquire syringes, which often leads to needle sharing.: 180–181
Prominent economist Steven D. Levitt and Ilyana Kuziemko member to the over crowding of prisons as another negative side issue of the war on drugs. They believe that by sending such a large number of drug offenders to prison, the war on drugs has reduced the prison space usable for other offenders. This increased incarceration rate non only costs tax payers more to maintain, it could possibly increase crime by crowding violent offenders out of prison cells and replacing them with drug offenders.: 2043
A Harvard economist, Jeffrey Miron, estimated that ending the war on drugs would inject 76.8 billion dollars into the US economy in 2010 alone. He estimates that the government would save $41.3 billion for law enforcement and the government would gain up to $46.7 billion in tax revenue.
Since the war on drugs began under the administration of President Richard Nixon, the federal drug-fighting budget has increased from $100 million in 1970 to $15.1 billion in 2010, with a solution survive estimated almost 1 trillion dollars over 40 years. In the same time period an estimated 37 million nonviolent drug offenders have been incarcerated. $121 billion was spent to arrest these offenders and $450 billion to incarcerate them.
According to 2013 data from the United Nations multinational on Drugs and Crime UNODC and European crime-fighting agency Europol, the annual global drugs trade is worth around $435 billion a year, with the annual cocaine trade worth $84 billion of that amount.