Criminalizing drugs fosters crime and enriches criminals like Nicolas Maduro

 Sale of criminalized drugs has, for many decades, been a large, lucrative business. The product’s criminality deters neither buyers nor sellers. These two facts elude some politicians, and some voters, who believe in criminalization of certain drugs, and in making penalties harsher. Their beliefs are wrong. Producers and traffickers of criminalized drugs are thankful for the illegality of their products because that reduces supply and drives up prices. “Economics 101”: when there is demand for a product and supply is reduced, market price for that product rises. The unwelcome facts are, firstly, demand for criminalized drugs will never end (the reasons are complex, beyond the space for this letter, and based in neurochemistry) and, secondly, criminalized drug profits rise in proportion to increases in restrictions on the drugs.

About sixty years ago U.S. President Richard Nixon declared his “war on drugs”. His “war” has been unquestioningly carried on by U.S. governments ever since, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. The results? During those six decades, the volumes, varieties, strengths and to a great extent the toxicity of criminalized drugs have all increased greatly, while generally the prices in absolute dollars have decreased. If, to you, these results are victory, then please never join the military. Canada has, essentially, taken the same stupid approach Americans have by ignoring Economics 101, all the while those Canadians averse to facts have been puzzled the “war” can’t be won.

A few years ago the president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (I apologize for not remembering his name) spoke about Canada’s policy on criminalized drugs. He said “We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem.” Why are we, as a society, not smart enough to listen to those on the front lines in the “war”? We delusionally believe criminalizing drugs will end their availability and stop addiction. Some politicians and voters, mostly conservatives, refuse to face the facts in this letter by continuing to support drug criminalization, thereby indirectly creating and sustaining demand filled by thugs like Nicolas Maduro, and before him Mexico’s El Chapo, and before him Panama’s Manuel Noriega. There are many more thugs, and there will always be more, until we use the one way to stop them.

Gregory R. Côté, Irvine