Pubdate: Sun, 15 Apr 2012
Source: Columbian, The (WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Columbian Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.columbian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/92
Author: George F. Will

LEGALIZING WEED WORTH CONSIDERING

Amelioration of today's drug problem requires Americans to understand
the significance of the 80/20 ratio. Twenty percent of American
drinkers consume 80 percent of the alcohol sold here. The same 80-20
split obtains among users of illicit drugs.

About 3 million people -- less than 1 percent of America's population
- -- consume 80 percent of illegal hard drugs. Drug trafficking
organizations can be most efficiently injured by changing the behavior
of the 20 percent of heavy users, and we are learning how to do so.
Reducing consumption by the 80 percent of casual users will not
substantially reduce the northward flow of drugs or the southward flow
of money.

More Americans are imprisoned for drug offenses or drug-related
probation and parole violations than for property crimes. And although
America spends five times more jailing drug dealers than it did 30
years ago, the prices of cocaine and heroin are 80 percent to 90
percent lower than 30 years ago.

In "Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know," policy
analysts Mark Kleiman, Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken argue that
imprisoning low-ranking, street-corner dealers is pointless: A $200
transaction can cost society $100,000 for a three-year sentence. And
imprisoning large numbers of dealers produces an army of people who,
emerging from prison with blighted employment prospects, can only
deal drugs. Which is why, although a few years ago Washington, D.C.,
dealers earned an average of $30 an hour, today they earn less than
the federal minimum wage ($7.25).

Rethinking policy

Kleiman, Caulkins and Hawken say that in developed nations, cocaine
sells for about $3,000 per ounce -- almost twice the price of gold.
And the supply of cocaine, unlike that of gold, can be cheaply and
quickly expanded. But in the countries where cocaine and heroin are
produced, they sell for about 1 percent of their retail price in
America. If cocaine were legalized, a $2,000 kilogram could be FedExed
from Colombia for less than $50 and sold profitably in America for a
small markup, and a $5 rock of crack might cost 25 cents.
Criminalization drives the cost of the smuggled kilogram in America up
to $20,000. But then it retails for more than $100,000.

People used to believe enforcement could raise drug prices but doubted
that higher prices would decrease consumption. Now, they know
consumption declines as prices rise but wonder whether enforcement can
substantially affect prices. They urge rethinking drug-control
enforcement, prevention and treatment.

And cartels have money for corrupting enforcement, because drugs are
cheap to produce and easy to renew. So it is not unreasonable to
consider modifying a policy that gives hundreds of billions of dollars
a year to violent organized crime.

Marijuana probably provides less than 25 percent of the cartels'
revenues. Legalizing it would take perhaps $10 billion from some bad
people, but the cartels would still make much more money from cocaine,
heroin and meth than they would lose from marijuana
legalization.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical
marijuana, a messy, mendacious semi-legalization that breeds cynicism
regarding law. In 1990, 24 percent of Americans supported full
legalization. Today, 50 percent do.

Would the public health problems resulting from legalization be a
price worth paying for injuring the cartels and reducing the cost of
drug-law enforcement?
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