Prohibition Economics: Why the War on Drugs Fuels Organized Crime

"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." – Albert Einstein, “My First Impression of the U.S.A.,” 1921

The War on Drugs has done more to dismantle American society than any other governmental activity. The history of the prohibition of alcohol has a lot to teach America when dealing with the War on Drugs. America rightfully decided that alcohol abuse was best handled by the Surgeon General rather than the Attorney General. 

For the public, the point of making alcohol illegal was to get the public to stop drinking alcohol, improve the quality of life, help individuals live longer, and stop alcohol’s ill effects. However, the illegality of alcohol started an ever-increasing problem that harmed society. This problem was gangs and organized crime that was fueled and able to sustain itself exclusively from the illegality of alcohol and the profits it made. The 1920s were synonymous with violence, organized crime, gangs, and corruption. The return of alcohol’s legality stopped the problematic organized crime rings, such as the famous bootlegging gangster Al Capone, who provided the substance.

The illegality of drugs makes a fortune from a substance that takes pennies to produce, and the profits from drug pushing are staggering. Joseph McNamara was chief of police for San Jose, California, for fifteen years and is also recognized as an expert in criminal justice, police technology, management systems, crime prevention, and international drug control policies. He explains that “…all cops and armies in the world can’t stop something with a 17,000 percent profit mark up. For example, if I could manufacture this pen for a dollar and I sell it for $17,000, the government could never stop this.” 10 There is so much cash from cocaine alone that drug cartels have enough power to rival entire governments. Smuggling in drugs is not the problem; it is harder to smuggle the money out than to bring the drugs in. In fact, the D.E.A. and White House see the increase in drug prices as positive, but this only makes illegal drug profits that much more profitable and drug smuggling more appealing. 

The problem America faces is that the more enforcement it places on a certain illegal activity, the more profitable that activity becomes. This is what some like to call "prohibition economics." Think of prohibition economics as an inflated balloon. If you squeeze one side of the balloon, the other side bulges out. This is the same with American dealers and foreign cocaine farmers. 

Destroying or stopping an operation does not stop cultivation or sales; it simply moves the practice, creating other problems along the way (i.e., violence). Some believe that to stop this effect, America must apply pressure everywhere until the balloon pops. Buy, the more pressure applied, the more profitably that illicit activity becomes, the more of an incentive there is to break the law.  

Drugs being illegal, coupled with America’s drug policy, is why there is so much violence, murder, addiction, drug abuse, gangs, and organized crime. The fact is that the War on Drugs experiment has done nothing good for society other than provide a lesson for what not to do. Legalization, education, and drug treatment programs are the only ways to reduce the harmful effects drugs have on society. 

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