A
border wall may reduce illegal immigration, Mr. President, but it will make the
drug problem worse.
Border
restrictions increase the cost of transporting drugs. Drug demand however, remains
the same. Dealers therefore increase drug concentrations, making overdosing
more likely and hurting the poor most. Nothing new there. After restrictions were
imposed on regular cocaine, dealers developed devastating crack cocaine.
Higher
transportation barriers also cause smaller drug dealers to drop out of the
market, leaving the better connected and more violent dealers in charge. This occurred
in the 1920s when Al Capone and other big-time gangsters took over.
When
any product that people want to buy is made illegal, they buy it anyway. Those who
supply the product cannot go to court to defend their property rights as
dealers. They defend their rights with violence or the threat of violence. The prohibition
of drugs is an important source of violence in America and the world. The
criminalization of any product or service that people wish to purchase always
fosters a violent underworld that seeks high profits for disobeying the law.
The
prohibition of alcohol failed for ten years. The prohibition of drugs has
failed for forty years (at a monstrous $40 billion a year). The only realistic
solutions: decriminalization and education about drugs. Let’s dip our toes into
those alternatives. They’ll reduce addictions and save a bundle.
