Drug Policy

* The failure of the current prohibition is aptly demonstrated by the pair of drug policy commentaries on June 12. The discussion of the treatment of the symptoms of prohibition is typical of the law-enforcement style of problem solving our society has developed. We write laws that create a problem and then write more laws to deal with the inevitable result.

There are two key points of failure in our approach. The first is the assumption that harsh penalties deter dealing. Harsher penalties have had no effect on the amount of available drugs. They do increase the risk involved and hence drive up the cost. This transfers more wealth from the user to the increasingly criminal dealer. This brings up the second failure. Poorer neighborhoods are ravaged by drug dealing because the cost of the drugs is a proportionally larger share of the available income.

Legalizing and taxing drugs would benefit poor neighborhoods by driving down the cost. People who don’t use drugs wouldn’t start. Crime would be reduced both by definition and by lessened economic impact on the user. Problems of this nature should be approached from an economic perspective rather than a moralistic perspective.

PETER EVANS

Manhattan Beach