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By Sam Whittaker, Class of 2015
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| Sam Whittaker |
Each year, the United States Federal and State governments spend 51 billion dollars to fight the War on Drugs. The intention behind the War on Drugs and supporting legislation is to keep drugs off the streets, reduce violence, and generally keep citizens more safe. As the famous economist Bastiat would argue, what is seen from the Drug War is increasing arrests and the driving of the drug culture underground. However, the War on Drugs has many negative and largely unseen secondary effects that the United States government fails to acknowledge or address.
One such secondary effect is that the War on Drugs, intended to punish suppliers more than demanders, actually has made the drug trade more profitable for the suppliers. This is because demand for drugs is relatively inelastic, that is to say that drug users do not respond to price increases by buying fewer quantities of drugs. As a result of their illegality, the quantity of available legal drugs may be lower, but this just makes the trade all the more profitable for dealers as they are able to charge a higher price without affecting their ability to sell their product.
The addicting qualities of drugs and the smaller quantities available combined with inelastic demand causes another, darker secondary effect. The rising price of drugs places a burden on users to find the extra funds to buy the product. This causes a spike in theft, prostitution, and other crime rates making society more unsafe. Further, driving drugs underground, the court system and public market do not provide ways for suppliers to legally settle their differences and grievances. This causes violence to run rampant in both the U.S. and nations south of the border as cartels and gangs use violence to contend for influence. The increase in crime rate that occurs here actually is the opposite result that the Drug War intends. In addition to this, by driving drugs into the black market, they become more potent and even more unsafe. As economist Benjamin Powell argues, a bad batch of Tylenol may be recalled, but would a bad batch of illegal drugs be recalled by the dealer if they don’t have to worry about their reputation with the public at large?
As a result of the War on Drugs, more than half a million U.S. citizens are in prison. This is a direct affront to liberty and evidenced by the United States disproportionate share of the world prison population. While only having 5% of word population, the U.S. houses 25% of the world’s inmates. The side effect of imprisonment that too often gets ignored is the labor and services lost to society while these individuals are in prison. Rather than producing and spending in the local and national economy, these individuals sit in prison. Moreover, this often places an economic burden on their families causing a whole host of other issues and often contributing to single parent households on welfare programs which places the financial burden on the taxpayer. The individuals being put up in prison must also be paid for by taxes, placing yet another financial burden on society.
Over one trillion dollars has been spent waging the war on drugs in the past forty years, not to mention the forgone economic growth and tax revenue that could be generated by a legal drug trade. This money could have been put in the hands of taxpayers, spent, and invested in the economy instead. When the unseen side effects are taken into account, the question should be asked, why has the United States spent over a trillion dollars on the Drug War? What has society gained from it? Drugs are still used and relatively easily available, the drug trade is as profitable as ever, and U.S. citizens are being deprived of both their freedom and property as the government plunders their incomes for money to fight the war. It seems that all society has accomplished has been putting a record number of individuals in prison.
Sam Whittaker is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. Sam is majoring in History and Political Science and minoring in Economics.