Should the U.S. Continue its War on Drugs?

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Few public policies have compromised public health and undermined our fundamental civil liberties for so long and to such a degree as drug prohibition. The United States ranks first in the world in per capita incarceration rates, with 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoners.  Roughly 500,000 people are behind bars in the U.S. for a nonviolent drug law violation. That’s ten times the total in 1980, and more than all of western Europe (with a much larger population) incarcerates for all offenses. Police made more than 1.8 million drug arrests in the U.S. last year alone (nearly 700,000 for nothing more than marijuana possession). Those arrested were separated from their loved ones, branded criminals, denied jobs, and in many cases prohibited from accessing public assistance for life.

Many of the problems the drug war purports to resolve are in fact caused by the drug war itself. So-called “drug-related” crime is a direct result of drug prohibition's distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand. When alcohol was illegal, crime syndicates fought for control of the underground market. Now that alcohol is legal, no one commits drive-by shootings to gain control of the alcohol market. Public health problems like HIV and Hepatitis C are all exacerbated by zero-tolerance laws that restrict access to sterile syringes. Fatal drug overdoses occur in part because people are too afraid of being arrested to call 911 when a friend is overdosing. Fear of arrest also makes people reluctant to seek drug treatment.

The government spends tens of billions of dollars a year trying to reduce the supply of illegal drugs. Even when drug law enforcement agencies are successful at reducing the supply, all that does is increase prices. As the prices of drugs increase, it becomes more profitable to manufacture and sell drugs, which means more people will get into the illegal market and more illegal drugs will be made and sold. This should be no surprise. Attempts to interrupt the supply of alcohol during Prohibition made alcohol more valuable, boosting Al Capone’s profits. The richer he got the more people wanted to be just like him. Whether it’s alcohol, marijuana or cocaine, supply- side approaches enrich organized crime and encourage more people to enter the illegal market.