One only needs to look at the failures of the Prohibition Era and The War on Drugs to see that making a substance illegal does not reduce demand for the substance. Illegal alcohol gave birth to a black market that funded the rise of the mafia in the US. The War on Drugs made small time cocaine producers into warlords. In short, anyone willing to risk the wrath of righteous countries like the United States (the largest consumer of cocaine in the world) can make mountains of cash in a very short time. While the DEA can knock down drug dealers left and right, there’s always more to take their place. For many people the risk is worth the reward.
On top of this the government consistently loses money in this war. Budgets expand every year, yet the drug problem in the US never seems to go away. We’re throwing unprecedented numbers of people in jail on drug-related offenses and forcing them to serve 85% of their terms. This is causing a massive drain on local economies. The state of California is looking for ways to reduce their prison population by 40% in the next few years, and you can guess what kind of criminal makes up the lion’s share of the population.
So how can government make money in the War On Drugs? Taxes and tickets.
If cigarettes were made entirely illegal then the government would lose out on the obscene level of taxes they place on a pack of Marlboros. So what’s the next best thing to banning cigarettes? Make it practically to impossible to smoke them. Ticket people for smoking in restaurants, bars, cars, coffee houses, culminating on a smoking ban in any public place. Then state and local governments can write fistfuls of tickets for smoking and collect the taxes on cigarettes sales. Everyone makes money and everyone claim to be looking out for the best interests of the public.
