High risk: drug war fought with dollars

[poledriver]

High risk: drug war fought with dollars

How goes the war on drugs? On the face of it, not well. But in thinking about the drug problem it helps to know a bit of economics. When you do, you see things aren't as bad as they seem.

Most people agree that the use of heroin, cocaine and amphetamines such as speed and ice can become highly addictive and, when they do, a lot of harm is done to users and their families.

There's little reason to doubt that the high price of illegal drugs hugely reduces the number of users and the amount each user uses.

So most of us agree that governments should be working to limit the use of such harmful drugs. The arguments come over how best to do it. The conventional approach is to make the production, importation, distribution, sale and consumption of such drugs illegal. Problem solved.

But we've been pursuing this prohibition approach for years, spending a fortune on policing, the courts and the high proportion of drug offenders in our jails. With all this has gone a fair bit of police corruption.

And yet illegal drug use remains widespread, with still too many drug overdoses and drug deaths. The seizures, arrests and prison sentences roll on, seemingly to little effect. People may be using less heroin, but its place has been taken by ice which, if anything, seems worse.

If prohibition so clearly isn't working, shouldn't we try a different approach?

Last week the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research published research that seems to provide powerful support for the contention that the conventional approach is broken.

We've all seen TV news reports of police proudly displaying the seemingly huge quantity of drugs they've just seized after an intricate detection operation. We're told the "street value" of the seized drugs, with the implication that this success will put a hole in drug consumption.

The take-away message is clear. See? The tide has turned and we're winning the war after all.

But the study took the figures for seizures and arrests of suppliers of illegal amphetamines, cocaine and heroin, and compared them with the figures for two indirect measures of drug use: hospital emergency department admissions for drug overdoses and arrests for drug use or possession. The figures were for the whole of Australia, over the 10 years to June 2011.

The study found no evidence that increases in drug seizures and arrests of drug suppliers reduced the number of emergency department admissions or the number of arrests for use or possession.

The study also analysed three specific NSW police operations – named Balmoral Athens, Tempest and Collage – identified by the NSW Crime Commission as being so successful they had the potential to affect the market for cocaine.

It found that the three operations did have the effect of reducing arrests for use or possession of cocaine, but the effect was only temporary.

In fact, the study found that increases in drug seizures were often associated with increases in hospital admissions and arrests of users. Huh? The likely explanation is that at times when there is a lot more of the drugs available, the police will be able to increase the amount they seize.

What more proof do you need? Prohibition isn't working and we should try something else. Many medical people would like to see less emphasis on criminalisation and more on harm reduction. Just imagine if we could take all the money poured into catching and punishing people and use it to help people get off drugs and sort out their lives.

But Dr Don Weatherburn and the other authors of the study argue strongly against using its findings to conclude that drug law enforcement is a waste of money.

Why not? Because, when you look at the issue the way an economist would, you realise there's more to prohibition that just attempting to stamp out all illicit drug use.

The other thing it does is force up the price of drugs. Research suggests the black-market price of cocaine in the United States is between 2 1/2 and five times what it would be in a legal market. For heroin it was between eight and 19 times higher.

Cont -

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/high-risk-drug-war-fought-with-dollars-20141202-11y8c7.html

 

[«§Harry§»]

This suggests that rather than trying to maximise the size of the seizures they can parade on telly to prove how successful they are, law enforcers should maximise the risks of traffickers getting caught, thereby inducing them to charge a higher risk premium.

Take a trip with me and I'll explain whats the problem here. You'll know where we are going with this about half way through.

We attempted protecting the social fabric through extreme incarceration/consequences. The violence and risk associated with illicit drug distribution was exported. The cartels use disposable kids as distribution points inside the developed world. The leaders of cartels, their production, and much of the violence have transferred elsewhere.The risk associated with opium production is less in Afghanistan so opium production and violence is located there. The same thing occurs with cocaine in Peru and methamphetamine in Mexico. Observe the constant social turmoil and frequent mass murders associated with drug trafficking in Mexico. Theses countries can't afford effective countermeasures and receive the burden of the Wests drug war.

The reality is people are born with different neuochemistry. Some people function best on whatever drugs they use, they know that way of life. Others don't, no in those people chasing the sweet feeling their brain was born requiring only results in incapacitateingly bitter consequences. A final group thrives sober. In many places the bread, water, and hard work people have denied the existence of the other groups so long they fear acknowledging them. They have been putting people in prison (where they accumulate problems) who were better off on the outside. Because of genetics or epigenteics many of these prisoners were born with treatable neurological abnormalities.

I have had periods in my life where I could access almost limitless amounts of free drugs (Xanax, Valium. and cocaine). Because of Bluelight and this sites effective harm reduction I didn't abuse these drugs. I had read stories on benzodiazipine withdrawal and the impurity of cocaine. I self regulated then discontinued without negative consequences. I abused synthetic cnabanoids with detrimental consequences because I wrongly thought they were safe. I also abused cannabis because I wrongly thought cannabis wasn't addictive. Honest supportive communities and effective harm reduction reduce drug use. Harm reduction alone didn't improve my quality of life. LSD therapy caused the breakthrough.

LSD gave me an opportunity, a way I could know what was causing all of the problems. As I examined my lifestyle I realized my diet was filled with chemicals my body tolerated differently than other people. Some people consume fountain drinks and doughnuts all along and are fine. I can't be that way. With my old diet I was so impaired I was incapable of recognizing what I was overlooking including my own disability. Things other people inherently know I couldn't recognize such as personalities, facial expression, and metaphor. I was frequently homeless, incarcerated, and institutionalized. Anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers failed. Removing what was hurting me from my diet was effective. I changed my diet and things began improving. If I exercised excessively or was otherwise stressed some psychedelics could temporarily moderate the emotional peaks and valleys. Years later I see that I have improved and experience progressively less psychosis.

Some regulation of drugs is necessary. Strict prohibition and deceptive propaganda doesn't improve public health. Harm reduction and knowing what was the reason I previously abused drugs sparked my recovery. I fixed the cause through augmenting my diet then my drug abuse, cognitive deficits, and behavioral issues all were reduced. This solution requires the bread, water, and hard work people recognize some people are better on the outside and the resolution isn't incarceration.

Fortunately we have MAPS. Veterans are recovering everyday with the combination of therapy and MDMA. Veterans accumulate emotional issues during war and MDMA assisted therapy allows them a way of processing these issues. This is more effective vs suicide and cheaper than punishing secondary behavioral issues with prison.

 

[Crankinit]

Research suggests the black-market price of cocaine in the United States is between 2 1/2 and five times what it would be in a legal market. For heroin it was between eight and 19 times higher.

Simple - fill the gap with taxation and use the tax income to fund treatment. Win/win.