Casual Users, Substance Abusers, and Public Policy

1
Casual Users, Substance Abusers, and Public Policy

• The War On Drugs

2
(No Transcript)
3
(No Transcript)
4
Questions

• Should public policy towards marijuana be any
  different than public policy towards alcohol
  consumption and cigarette consumption?
• Why?

5
Questions

• The US has suffered three drug abuse epidemics.
  Why are we so vulnerable?
• Is drug abuse a victimless crime?
• Is marijuana the number one drug problem in the
  US?

6
Outline

• US Drug Problems
• 1970s heroin
• 1980s cocaine
• 2000s meth
• Fear, Aids, and Drug Policy
• Drugs and Crime
• Policy Towards Marijuana

7
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/view
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/body
8
(No Transcript)
9
http//www.cdc.gov/hiv/graphics.htm
10
Death Rates from HIV
11
(No Transcript)
12
Drugs and Crime The Perception of the Victim
Source http//www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
Arrests The War on Drugs
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
State Prisoners
Federal Prisons In 1996, Drug Offenders
accounted for 60 of Federal Prisoners
Federal Spending on Drug Control 1981 1.5
Billion 1989 6.7 1990 9.8 1995 13.0
2000 17.9 2001 18.1
19
Federal Drug Budget By Function

• Total 17,940.3 18,053.1
• Drug treatment 2,915.2 3,168.3
• Drug prevention 2,338.6 2,515.7
• Criminal justice system 8,429.0 9,357.7
• International 1,892.9 609.7
• Interdiction 1,965.9 1,950.4
• Research 89.6 106.1
• Intelligence 309.1 345.2
• International (U.S. Support
• for Plan Colombia 954.4

20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
Drug Use by High School Seniors
ER Incidents
24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
Questions About Crime

• What are the Social Policy Options Towards
  Victimless Crimes?
• education problem
• prevention
• health problem
• cure for addicts and abusers
• fiscal problem
• control use through taxes
• law enforcement problem
• focus on demand?
• users
• focus on supply?
• distributors

28
Education

• Let an informed public make a choice
• An individual would weigh the benefits against
  the costs
• If the benefit/cost ratio exceeds one
• smoke
• drink
• Could impose costs on others
• driving under the influence
• second hand smoke
• Protection of Minors
• blandishments of advertising
• influence of peers

29
Health

• Treat substance abuse
• Need to identify the abusers
• many citizens are not covered under health plans
• Difficult to cure addicts

30
Fiscal Policy

• Use excise taxes, a tax per unit, to control
  demand
• tax per pack of cigarettes
• tax per bottle of gin
• Policy moderates rather than eliminates use
• lacks the moral suasion of a law prohibiting use

31
Law Enforcement

• Control demand?
• hard to keep tabs on numerous users
• loss of respect for the law
• people like to party
• Control supply?
• at home
• search and destroy policies have a low success
  rate
• abroad
• interdiction of supply has low success rate
• we export our enforcement problem to
• producing countries, e.g. Bolivia
• transhipment countries, e.g. Mexico

32
What are the Tradeoffs Among Policy Options?
33
Some Consequences from Criminalizing Substance Use

• barrier to law-abiding suppliers
• enriches crooks
• prohibition financed the Mafia in the US
• drug profits have created a new Mafia in Colombia
• high prices drive some users to crime to support
  their habit
• easy money corrupts some law enforcement officials

34
Scale, nature, and perception of the drug
problem are very different in ...

• United States
• Canada
• Western Europe

Source Peter Reuter et. al., Comparing Western
Europe and North American Drug Policies, Rand
35
The Western Nations Drug Problem
36
Behavior
Social Problem
( violence US with guns, 50 million hanguns in
private hands 100 times the per capita rate in
Europe)
crime
drug use
AIDS
(free needles for addicts Germany Italy Netherlan
ds Switzerland Great Britain)
37
(No Transcript)
38
Country Number of Heroin Addicts Epidemic
Decades US 600,000 - 800,000 60s 70s Great
Britain 60s Germany 60s Netherlands
60s Spain 80s Canada None
Country Number of Cocaine Addicts Epidemic
Decades US 1,800,000-2,000,000 80s Canada
None 12,000,000 users of at least once per year
39
The Western Nations Drug Problem
40
(No Transcript)
41
Market Analysis

• Compare and contrast
• free market
• enforcement
• fiscal policy
• excise tax as a control device

42
Market Analysis

• concepts
• market supply
• marginal cost of production the additional cost
  of one more unit
• cost of production equals the sum of marginal
  costs
• revenue price quantity sold
• market demand
• price some consumers are willing to pay
• expenditure price quantity bought
• consumer surplus a measure of welfare for those
  consumers willing to pay above the market price

43
Market Analysis

• Concepts
• supply and demand
• determines the market price
• the marginal cost of production the marginal
  value of consumers
• the quantity demanded equals the quantity
  supplied
• profit revenue - cost of production
• profit, or producers surplus, is a welfare
  measure
• total welfare benefit consumers surplus
  producers surplus

44
Market Supply
45
Market Demand
46
Market Supply and Demand
47
Enforcement Policy Search, Confiscate, Resale
48
Enforcement Policy Search, Confiscate, Resale
49
Enforcement Policy Search, Confiscate, Burn
50
Enforcement Policy Search, Confiscate, Burn
51
Fiscal Policy 50 Excise Tax, Government Keeps
the Revenue
52
Fiscal Policy 50 Excise Tax, Government Keeps
Revenue
53
Fiscal Policy 50 ExciseTax, Use Revenue to Buy
Marijuana
54
(No Transcript)