"If drugs were legal, crime will go down"

[Libertarian Mesa]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

[Mosasauria]

1. It would only be commercially sold drugs that would be taxed/regulated, IIRC. Meaning people could grow their own pot.
2. I don't know. What happens to people who are frequent alchoholics, who then get drunk and commit a crime?

[Barringtonia]

There's a balance between the effort to get drugs on the black market and the convenience of paying a higher premium through tax by just getting them from the newsagent. Tobacco and alcohol would be similar, sure I can get them cheaper from Sid down at The Pig & Whistle but it's just a bother.

[Gauthier]

There's historical precedence for legalized drugs = lower crime.

It's called Prohibition.

[Volnotova]

Yes.

Also of course because selling, buying and producing drugs would no longer be illegal.

[Galloism]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

You know of many organized cigarette gangs?

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

Well, with legalized drugs, getting help would not involve going to prison. I don't think anyone states that all drug-related crime will vanish, but it should be reduced... say, to the level of cigarette related crime, or thereabouts (which, actually, is not nonexistent, just relatively rare).

[Shaoyuan]

I think I'd rather buy drugs at a newsagent than that guy in the hoodie even if it was 3 times the price simply because GlaxoSmithCline are much less likely to cut their product with crushed glass, rat poison, sawdust etc.

[Ifreann]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

That depends on the level of taxation, the efficiency of law enforcement and the quality of legal and illegal drugs. Having to hide one's operation from the police could up costs such that one cannot compete with legal and taxed drugs. If drugs are legal and regulated, users may get a taste, so to speak, for affordable quality shit, as opposed to rat poison and broken glass cut with just enough coke.

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Almost certainly some, yes, just as there is a market for smuggled cigarettes. But being a drug addict doesn't mean you have to resort to crime to feed that addiction, no more that tobacco addicts do now.

[Lord Tothe]

There's historical precedence for legalized drugs = lower crime.

It's called Prohibition.

This.

[Pope Joan]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

I think the possibility of criminal activity, such as smuggling untaxed drugs, would help keep taxes down to a reasonable rate, which would be a good thing.

The same thing happens with cigarettes. They are smuggled tax free right now, but one curb on increasing the tax on smokes is that the smuggling would then be greatly encouraged.

[New Manvir]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

What you don't understand is that the black market makes drugs incredibly overpriced. For example, marijuana costs more per ounce than silver. No way a plant that anyone can grow in their basement would cost that much in an open market. I contend that even if most drugs were legal and taxed at a rate of 100%, the prices would still be lower than they are today. Most of the inflation is due to the risk involved in the market and because production can't be conducted in the open. This is also the reason why people addicted to hard drugs resort to crime to fund their habits. If heroin were legal it would be cheaper and people who do it could fund their habits easier, probably with a normal job.

[Shaoyuan]

How is low tax drugs a good thing? Just because you legalise them doesn't mean you should encourage their use. Most of them are worse than alcohol which is bad enough anyway.

[Truvada]

I don't think that once drugs are legal, they should be regulated at all.

Tax their purchase, if possible. But people need to discover reality for themselves. So long as they aren't endangering anyone other then themselves, if at all, then why does the state need to get involved?

What a repugnant waste of time and attention on the part of the government.

[Lord Tothe]

How is low tax drugs a good thing? Just because you legalise them doesn't mean you should encourage their use. Most of them are worse than alcohol which is bad enough anyway.

Yes, and if the drugs were legalized, people would be unable to resist their siren call, because we're a bunch of idiots who need men in suits to tell us what to do, and men with tin badges to force us to behave.

[Amacia]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

You know of many organized cigarette gangs?

Well, to be fair, there are fag smugglers that transport fags from high tax to low tax states, but they should just have low taxes on them.
(Yeah I know that sounds wrong but I don't care.)

[Shaoyuan]

I don't think that once drugs are legal, they should be regulated at all.

Tax their purchase, if possible. But people need to discover reality for themselves. So long as they aren't endangering anyone other then themselves, if at all, then why does the state need to get involved?

What a repugnant waste of time and attention on the part of the government.

Because after you come down off your meth binge someone has to pay to drag you to the hospital.

[Aeronos]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

I sight Reagan in your flag. Good good. Milton Friedman, the father of Monetarism, the economic system Reagan applied as Neoliberalism, explains the title very nicely in this 7 minute video

[Shaoyuan]

How is low tax drugs a good thing? Just because you legalise them doesn't mean you should encourage their use. Most of them are worse than alcohol which is bad enough anyway.

Yes, and if the drugs were legalized, people would be unable to resist their siren call, because we're a bunch of idiots who need men in suits to tell us what to do, and men with tin badges to force us to behave.

Oh sorry, because the general public has such a great record on this stuff in the past.

[The Black Forrest]

Sure.

People are going to do them legal or illegal. Just the way we are. You can find drug use all through recorded history.

Philadelphia recently reported saving 2 million a year by not prosecuting pot smokers...

Some should remain controlled. Crystal meth for example. Nobody comes back from that......

[Truvada]

Because after you come down off your meth binge someone has to pay to drag you to the hospital.

Yeah, I mean I'm not an anarchist, but I believe in privatized health care.

If the ambulance is being paid for by tax money, then you should have to answer up for reimbursing your drain on revenue.

If not, then people need to have the freedom to be stupid. You cannot expedite the consequences of reality unto those who refuse to survive optimally.

If a person ODs on a binge then they are the ones who should pay for their actions.

I don't want to live for some one else. I live for me.

[Shaoyuan]

Because after you come down off your meth binge someone has to pay to drag you to the hospital.

Yeah, I mean I'm not an anarchist, but I believe in privatized health care.

You believe in paying more for less?

[Pope Joan]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

What you don't understand is that the black market makes drugs incredibly overpriced. For example, marijuana costs more per ounce than silver. No way a plant that anyone can grow in their basement would cost that much in an open market. I contend that even if most drugs were legal and taxed at a rate of 100%, the prices would still be lower than they are today. Most of the inflation is due to the risk involved in the market and because production can't be conducted in the open. This is also the reason why people addicted to hard drugs resort to crime to fund their habits. If heroin were legal it would be cheaper and people who do it could fund their habits easier, probably with a normal job.

Right!

One latent purpose of criminalization of drugs is to prop up the high price. Whether or not this is intentional may be debated. Remember, the CIA has long been dealing drugs as part of its operations; it was a factor in the iran Contra scandal, and unofficial reports said that many millions of CIA drugs were destroyed when the twin towers went down.

Another latent purpose is to support an expensive burdensome bureaucracy of enforcement. Hey, I thought we were trying to reduce governmental expenses?

[Amacia]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

As I said before their are fag smugglers, and they get violent, but it's not Guadalajara.

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

If it was legal it would be easier for them to get it without resorting to crime, since it would be cheaper.

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

You're welcome!

[New Manvir]

Yes, and if the drugs were legalized, people would be unable to resist their siren call, because we're a bunch of idiots who need men in suits to tell us what to do, and men with tin badges to force us to behave.

Oh sorry, because the general public has such a great record on this stuff in the past.

Actually yes, they do. More liberal policies regarding drugs has led to less use, not more. See: Prohibition, Portugal, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic for examples.

[Make up your own mind]

I've heard the argument that if drugs were legal, crime would drop, because the drug cartels and gangs would have no reason to exist. I Do not fully understand this for two reasons:

The first reason: Many of the people who support the legalization of drugs promotion their taxation. Would that also give the cartel a reason to exist by providing tax free drugs?

And the second reason: Certain drugs such as heroin is highly addictive. Wouldn't there be people who became addicted to these drugs and must resort to crime to get them?

Please correct me if I made ​​a mistake.

What you don't understand is that the black market makes drugs incredibly overpriced. For example, marijuana costs more per ounce than silver. No way a plant that anyone can grow in their basement would cost that much in an open market. I contend that even if most drugs were legal and taxed at a rate of 100%, the prices would still be lower than they are today. Most of the inflation is due to the risk involved in the market and because production can't be conducted in the open. This is also the reason why people addicted to hard drugs resort to crime to fund their habits. If heroin were legal it would be cheaper and people who do it could fund their habits easier, probably with a normal job.

"I'm just popping down to the store to get some eggs and heroin, should I pick up a six pack while I'm there?"