Should drugs use be dealt as a crime in the country of your residence?

[Southie]

Re: Should drugs use be dealt as a crime in the country of your residence?

@CM

No Southie. What it states is that due to the price/income relationship the full effect of drug use is difficult to predict. Meaning that drugs can be recreational as well as addictive. I am not sure the if the economists differentiated between addicted users and recreational users. But one thing they would have done is taken the affect of person income and the ability to purchase the drug vs its actual supply. In a recession the demand for drugs would increase. That could cause an increase in price. However those addicted to the drugs would still buy the drug due to their addiction rather than their ability to support their habit based on their income and other financial resources. The variable factors are numerous in this case due to the addictive nature of the product.

Of course I have yet to read the study so I can not say what they looked at. But generally put the full effect is not seen due to the relationship between the price and income. Due to its addictive nature. Addicts will still but the product regardless of their income.

Southie your question was should one legalize drugs. Not only government health policy. Then again you do not point out which drugs should be legalized either.

CM - good discussion - I am learning a lot.

This study (at least the abstract) does not provide much information. however, I agree with your and the study’s hypothesis that in a recession, drug use may increase. As you pointed out, this would put upward pressure on price of drugs - but the addicts may still buy.

It is very easy to determine if Portugal’s progressive policies have worked in this recession. There shoul dbe data available for Portugues population drug use over the last 20 years, which would include the time before they legalized drugs, the time after legalization. For the legalization period, it would include data pre-recession and during recession.

That should answer any doubts (or strengthen your argument).

The question I posed - should drugs be legalized - without specifying which - was to not put any constraints - and let folks provide their input.

Ghost appears to have the reasonable solution - make distribution of hard drugs illegal, but dont punish use of such drugs, but treat them.