quote:
Originally posted by UTI
And about the last bit about illegal drug trafiking... To be honest, you can never completely get rid of it... you'd just reallyhave to bare down on how much (if any) enters and leaves the country.
Thats what I said, but there aren't any turf wars between gangs selling ciggarettes are there?
The fact is, that by turning drugs into a commodity, you would get rid of a
lot of problems.
Lets take a look at what might happen if we legalised drugs:
Large tobacco companies who are facing reduced revenue in the face of anti nicotine legislation companies, who have a lot of money start selling drugs.
They already have big distribution networks, processing plants and expertise. They can create economies of scale (cost benefits associated with producing on a large scale), lowering the cost of the drugs. Driving prices down.
More companies start jumping on the band wagon -> increased competition -> lower prices as companies compete
The government, with backing and funding from these new drug companies, cracks down on unlicensed entities selling drugs: i.e. the last of the drug dealers.
Prices are falling dramatically, customers no longer have imperfect information (that is they can easily compare prices of drugs, and they know what is inside drugs).
This means that drug dealers (who already make very little money) now make even less money and there is a larger risk of them being arrested.
So illegal drug dealing becomes very unatractive.
We will never completely get rid of illegal drug dealing, however I think it'll be mainly limited to places where there is a chance for a local monopoly, such as the same situations where people charge £12 for a cigarette (i made a hefty profit last time I went to Reading Music Festival
).
And even this would probably be legal drugs bought at a shop, resold for a ridiculous markup.
/ 
