Legalizing Drugs

From: J
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2017 1:03 PM
To: Walter Block
Subject: Legal Drug Market Detailed?
Dear Dr. Block, Do you happen to know if anyone has written a really good book or extensive article about how a completely legal market for all drugs would work? I have had numerous conversations with individuals about the drug war and all of the harms related to the war on drugs, and their biggest holdup is that they just can’t envision how it would work any other way. What I thought was so fantastic about your book “The Privatization of Roads and Highways” was that you attempted to paint a picture about how it would actually work. Even for me, a staunch libertarian, it was not until after I read that book that I could clearly envision how the free market might solve the numerous challenges that would be presented by a completely private system of roads and highways. Unfortunately, most of the people I discuss the drug war with are not willing to just “trust the free market” to figure it out. They actually want to read something that paints a picture about how it might actually work. For example:

1. What percent of the population might actually be addicted to some sort of substance at any given time.
2. What would keep the entire population from being addicted to substances all the time with the result being that the society would implode with no one to watch the children, do the work, or drive or operate motor vehicles or heavy machinery?
3. Would there be any sort of a prescription system or supervised consumption facilities or any free market controls, or would kids be able to buy crack cocaine, crystal meth, and heroin from street vendors for five bucks?
A lot of these questions can be answered with comparison made to how alcohol, tobacco, or prescription drugs are handled, but I am not aware that anyone has taken the time to answer all those questions.
What was so fantastic about your book on roads and highways was that you really spent a lot of time “shining the light” into every nook and cranny and illuminating all of unanswered questions that give people pause. I would love to see something similar done describing how a legal drug market would work. Do you know if something like that exists? If not, would you be interested in doing that if I could find the funding? I look forward to hearing back! J

Dear J: Thanks for your kind comments about my book on privatizing roads. As to legalizing drugs (not supporting their use) I don’t know that there is any one book that answers all of your questions in the detail you request. I think Mark Thornton comes closest. In any case, I offer you a short bibliography on this subject, including his excellent book. In my view, in the free society, prescriptions from doctors would be advisory, not granting permission. And, all addictive drugs would be prohibited to children.

Block, 1993, 1996; Block, Wingfield and Whitehead, 2003; Cussen and Block, 2000; Friedman, 1992; Hanke and Walters, 2016; Obioha and Block, 2012; Szasz, 1985, 1992; Thornton, 1991

Block, Walter. 1993. “Drug Prohibition: A Legal and Economic Analysis,” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 12, pp. 689-700; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00881383

Block, Walter. 1996. “Drug Prohibition, Individual Virtue and Positive Economics,” Review of Political Economy, October, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 433-436; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09538259600000077

Block, Walter E., Katherine Wingfield and Roy Whitehead. 2003. “Re-Evaluating America’s Failing Drug Control Laws: A Legal, Philosophical, and Economic Proposal,” Oklahoma City Law Review, Vol. 28, No. 1, Spring, pp. 119-159; http://141.164.133.3/faculty/Block/Articles%20for%20web/Drug%20control%20Laws.doc;

Cussen, Meaghan and Walter E. Block. 2000. “Legalize Drugs Now! An Analysis of the Benefits of Legalized Drugs,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 59, No 3, July, pp. 525-536;

Friedman, Milton. 1992. “The Drug War as a Socialist Enterprise.” Friedman & Szasz on Liberty and Drugs, edited and with a Preface by Arnold S. Trebach and Kevin B. Zeese. Washington, D.C.: The Drug Policy Foundation; http://www.druglibrary.org/special/friedman/socialist.htm

Hanke, Steve H and Stephan J.K. Walters. 2016. “One Year After: Freddie Gray and ‘Structural Statism’.” April 22;
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/one-year-after-freddie-gray-structural-statism

Obioha, Violet and Walter E. Block. 2012. “War on Black Men: Arguments for the Legalization of Drugs.” Criminal Justice Ethics, 31 (2):106-120. 10.1080/0731129X.2012.719671; reprinted here: http://bit.ly/race_and_justice; http://explore.tandfonline.com/page/bes/race-and-criminal-justice-vsi; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0731129X.2012.719671

Szasz, Thomas Stephen. 1985. Ceremonial chemistry: the ritual persecution of drugs, addicts, and pushers. Holmes Beach, Fla. : Learning Publications.

Szasz, Thomas Stephen. 1992. Our right to drugs: the case for a free market, New York: Praeger.

Thornton, Mark. 1991. The Economics of Prohibition, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press

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