"partially legalize"
- I would say currently legalized drugs are "partially" legalized (aka regulated with reasonable restrictions like minimum age of purchase and not selling to intoxicated persons)
Referencing alcohol prohibition, that led to a large black market which gradually shrank until it almost completely disappeared about a decade after prohibition ended. About 10 years after prohibition was enacted, alcohol consumption was at ~70% of pre-prohibition levels. Making alcohol illegal decreased consumption by 30%. I would guess alcohol consumption levels would have continued to rise if prohibition had continued. I don't think anyone today still thinks a small reduction in consumption was worth all the violence and corruption created by prohibition. Today the "black market" for alcohol pretty much consists of asking your older sibling/friend to buy you a case of beer.
> When you make a resource harder to get you decrease the supply, when you decrease the supply, prices tend to go up and access goes down.
I argue it's extremely easy to get illegal drugs in the US. I don't currently use any but I have complete confidence I could acquire some within ~1-3 days by tapping my social network if I wanted. Another very convenient alternative for acquiring drugs for those so inclined is the dark web (assuming you know how to use cryptocurrency and tor - something I'm sure the vast majority of young people in the US can do)
We're going to eventually get to a place where drug decriminalization is widespread. If we're not going to punish people for using drugs, lets just take control of the drug market away from criminals, regulate it, tax it and use that tax revenue for something good.
Referencing alcohol prohibition, that led to a large black market which gradually shrank until it almost completely disappeared about a decade after prohibition ended. About 10 years after prohibition was enacted, alcohol consumption was at ~70% of pre-prohibition levels. Making alcohol illegal decreased consumption by 30%. I would guess alcohol consumption levels would have continued to rise if prohibition had continued. I don't think anyone today still thinks a small reduction in consumption was worth all the violence and corruption created by prohibition. Today the "black market" for alcohol pretty much consists of asking your older sibling/friend to buy you a case of beer.
> When you make a resource harder to get you decrease the supply, when you decrease the supply, prices tend to go up and access goes down.
I argue it's extremely easy to get illegal drugs in the US. I don't currently use any but I have complete confidence I could acquire some within ~1-3 days by tapping my social network if I wanted. Another very convenient alternative for acquiring drugs for those so inclined is the dark web (assuming you know how to use cryptocurrency and tor - something I'm sure the vast majority of young people in the US can do)
We're going to eventually get to a place where drug decriminalization is widespread. If we're not going to punish people for using drugs, lets just take control of the drug market away from criminals, regulate it, tax it and use that tax revenue for something good.