Crime and Drugs Christopher Campbell

Different Views of Legalization  Liberty: An argument for legalization  Paternalism: An argument against legalization  Morality: An argument against legalization

Analysis of Drug Policy  Prohibition causes the supply curve to decrease  Price per gram to increase from $20 a gram to $100 a gram  Quantity exchanged decreases

Does Enforcement Work?  Greater Enforcement will increase price  Casual user will buy less drugs when prices increase  A dependent user buys slightly less and pays higher price.

Unintended but Inevitable Consequences of Drug Prohibition  Creates criminals out of 10 percent of the U.S population  Creates unsafe drugs  Corruption of Public Officials  Large opportunity for less fortunate to make easy money  Increases the amount of crimes done by dependent users.

Unintended But Perhaps Avoidable Consequences of Prohibition  Increase the price of marijuana relative to cocaine.  Increased purity of cocaine at street level  Recruitment of young teenagers and preteens into selling drugs  Opportunity cost of drug prohibition is very high.

Unintended Consequences of Drug Legalization  Increase of birth defects  Contribute to more family break-ups  Increase the cost of health and automotive insurance

Equimarginal Principle  Equimarginal principle- states that in allocation of a fixed budget the last dollar spent on one activity should yield should yield the same marginal benefit as the last dollar spent on any other activiy.