Op-Ed The War on Drugs Was a Failure. It's Not Too Late for the War on Oil

[thegreenhand]

The War on Drugs Was a Failure. It's Not Too Late for the War on Oil​

Rupert Russell
Time
9 Feb 2022

Can the war on oil be won? The future is uncertain, but we should look to another “war” lessons on this one. For fifty years, the United States has fought an “all-out offensive” on another commodity and been utterly defeated—drugs. Ever since Richard Nixon declared illegal narcotics “public enemy number one,” presidents of both parties have faced a paradox. The harder they fought the criminal enterprises behind the trade, the larger the market for drugs became.

Is there a lesson to be learned by climate change activists? If we are going to win the war on fossil fuels, we need to avoid the total failure of the war on drugs.

Read the full article here.

 

[thegreenhand]

It’s an interesting analogy and as both a staunch anti-prohibitionist and environmentalist it caught my eye

But I think the author fails to consider the billions in federal subsidies the oil market receives. The illicit drug trade has no such thing.

Thus, I don’t think oil is necessarily comparable. The author claims that taking down e.g. Exxon will only lead to another fossil fuel company taking it’s place. But removing these govt subsidies to fossil fuel companies and shifting them to nuclear, hydro, solar, etc. would likely lead to those industries taking over.

That doesn’t seem comparable to taking down a cartel leader and having another pop up within the current unregulated, unsubsidized drug trade.

 

[S.J.B.]

Interesting comparison. One of the most-supported policies to reduce carbon emissions, at least among economists, is a carbon tax. One could compare it to tobacco and alcohol taxes. But of course, you need a valid alternative for the taxes to work, otherwise demand remains inelastic. In the environmental sphere, that means better battery technology, no- or low-emission power production, etc. For drugs, maybe a comparable scheme could be a focus on steering people toward less-harmful formulations. Put vice taxes on heroin but none on opium, on crystal meth but none on speed pills, etc.