Category Archives: Prohibition

Portugal’s Successful Détente With Drug Users

14 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Liberty, Prohibition, War On Drugs

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The U.S. wastes vast quantities of resources on the War on Drugs with nothing to show for it but counterproductive results. Drug use today is as commonplace as ever, despite the cumulative expenditure of many billions of dollars on law enforcement and judicial costs. We have ceded drug markets to organized crime, tolerated corruption of public officials, incurred the human and economic costs of millions of life-years wasted behind bars, and subjected users to impure and dangerous forms of contraband. And in the process, we have encouraged addiction, disease and death while dedicating relatively few resources to programs that might have helped these troubled souls.

Contrast that with Portugal’s approach to drug policy. The country’s decriminalization of drug use as well as harm reduction and treatment programs both deserve consideration in this context. Decriminalization took place in 2001: drugs are still illegal, but the penalties are very light. Treatment programs include a system of needle exchanges beginning in the early 1990s as well as various forms of outreach instituted in 2003-2005. Before the advent of these policies, Portugal had an extremely high rate of drug abuse; many feared that decriminalization would lead to further degeneracy, but no increase in drug use transpired, and the liberalized policies are credited with a drastic reduction in drug deaths and other tragic fallout. Consider the following:

  • a dramatic decline in the number of people who died from using an illicit drug to a rate of drug-induced death well below the EU average;
  • newly-diagnosed HIV cases among intravenous drug users fell by more than 95%;
  • drug-offenses declined by about 2/3;
  • the proportion of offenders imprisoned for offenses under the influence of drugs fell in half;
  • With the exception of cannabis, estimates of drug use among 15-34 year-olds have decreased, with lifetime and recent use rates below EU averages;

These facts are taken from this discussion of the effects of Portugal’s drug policies, this Wikipedia entry, and the 2018 Portugal Country Drug Report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

As a fiscal matter, some of the strongest objections to Portuguese drug policy have to do with the granting of public aid to drug addicts, who usually have themselves to blame for their predicament. And in fact, decriminalization was accompanied by a decision to transfer funds associated with enforcing drug laws and punishing offenders into treatment and rehabilitation of addicts. This includes subsidized housing and jobs as well as loans for certain productive efforts. These strike me as better uses of public funds than a drug war, and by all accounts the programs have been successful. And to the extent that recovered addicts are able to lead productive lives, they add to the strength of Portugal’s economy. In an ideal, classically-liberal order, privately-funded lifetime insurability would avoid the need for public funding of these programs, but that is a reform for another day.

Like any prohibition of activity in which a plurality engages, laws against drug use are generally ineffective and counterproductive (also see here). Portugal’s enlightened approach to drug policy is praiseworthy, sets a great example for other countries, and might be more politically feasible than full legalization. However, as long as there are any penalties for drug possession, there will be a wedge through which rents can be extracted by the underworld. Full legalization would do the most to attenuate crime and other risks associated with drug use, and it would also maximize the resources available to address problems faced by addicts and drug-dependents.

Note: the poster above is from 2014… the numbers are larger now!

A Voluntary Redistribution of Sex

11 Friday May 2018

Posted by in Free markets, Prohibition, Redistribution, Uncategorized

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“Incels” have received plenty of bad publicity since the horrifying van attack in Toronto two weeks ago. It was preceded in 2014 by a killing rampage in California perpetrated by an individual with a similar profile. In case you haven’t heard, an incel is an involuntary celibate, either male or female, though male incels have garnered nearly all of the recent attention. Whatever their other characteristics, incels share a loneliness and an unmet desire for intimacy with other human beings.

Lux Alptraum shares her views about the differences between male and female incels. She blames “angry, straight men” and “toxic masculinity” for both the violence that’s recently come to be associated with incels and the relative inattention paid to the plight of female incels. I value her perspective on the issue of female incels. There are obviously extreme misogynists among males in the incel “community”. Some are so enraged by their plight that they engage in on-line bullying, and a plainly deranged segment of incels, including the perpetrators of the crimes mentioned above, have advocated violent retribution against those they deem responsible for their low sexual status. That means just about anyone who can find a partner.

Alptraum paints male incels with a very broad brush, however. Similarly, various leftist writers have categorized incels as predominantly “right wing” and even racist, but involuntary celibacy and misogyny do not lie conveniently along a two-dimensional political spectrum. Incels are present in many groups, crossing racial, religious, and political lines. There are incels among the transgendered and undoubtedly in the gay community. Gay individuals can exist in relative isolation in towns across America. Physical disabilities may condemn individuals to involuntary celibacy. And not all incels are “ugly”; instead, they may suffer from severe social awkwardness. But there are bound to be incels who live quiet lives, unhappy, but adjusted to their circumstances, more or less.

The recent focus on incels has prompted some interesting questions. Ross Douthat’s opinion piece in The New York Times asks whether anyone has a “right to sex”, as some incels have asserted. Robin Hanson discusses the idea of a “redistribution of sex“, noting in a follow-up post that governments throughout history have influenced the distribution of sex through policies enforcing monogamy, for example, or banning prostitution. Voluntary agreements to exchange sex for remuneration are one way to alter the distribution. In fact, to demonstrate the lengths to which a government could go to redistribute sex and intervene against “sex inequality”, Hanson mentions policies of cash redistribution, funded by taxpayers, to compensate incels for the services of prostitutes. There are examples of such benefits for the disabled. Here is Alex Tabarrok on that subject:

“In the UK charities exist to help match sex workers with the disabled. Similar services are available in Denmark and in the Netherlands and in those countries (limited) taxpayer funds can be used to pay for sexual disability services.”

Subsidies and charity aside, it’s easy to understand why prohibition of sexual services for hire would be seen as an injustice by those unable to find partners willing to grant sexual benefits. From a libertarian perspective, trade in sex should be regarded as a natural right, like the freedom to engage in any other mutually beneficial transaction, so long as it does no harm to third parties. One’s body is one’s own property, and it should not be for government — or others — to decide how it will be used.

Laws against prostitution do great harm to society and to the individuals involved in the sex business. Forget about ending prostitution. That will never happen. According to  Abigail Hall, there are about 1 million prostitutes working in the U.S. They almost all work underground, with the exception of those operating in legal brothels in Nevada. Prohibition keeps the price up, but the workers capture a low share of those returns. Their bosses are harsh masters relative to those in legal businesses. These workers cannot report crimes against them, so they are often subject to the worst kinds of abuse. Illegality usually means they don’t have access to good health care, which places customers at greater risk. Legalizing (or decriminalizing) prostitution would reduce or eliminate these problems. From Hall:

“By legalizing the sex trade, we would allow those involved in the sex trade to come out from the shadows, use legitimate business practices and legal channels, and decrease the likelihood that women will be trafficked by violent groups of criminals. … As prostitution becomes a legitimate profession, it allows for prostitutes to be more open with their doctors about their sexual history and seek treatment for STIs and other problems.”

Many object that prostitution exploits women, legal or not, and that it exploits low-income women disproportionately. But there will be voluntary sellers as long as there is a market, again, legal or not. And there will be a market. As for a disparate impact on the poor, Hall says:

“The fact that those who select prostitution as a profession may be poor is inconsequential…. It may be true that some women who work as prostitutes would strongly prefer another profession. Even if this is the case, women who voluntarily choose prostitution as a means of income should be allowed to practice their profession in the safest environment possible.”

The ongoing development of “sex robots” offers an avenue through which incels might enjoy activity that approximates sex with a human being. These robots are becoming increasingly realistic, and their costs are likely to decline dramatically in coming years. For incels with a congenital inability to interact with other human beings, this option might be far preferable to hiring the services of a prostitute. And the introduction of both male and female sex robots into senior care facilities might reduce the likelihood that sexually aggressive residents will abuse others. It happens.

Free markets are amazing in their ability to maximize the well being of both consumers and producers of a good or service. Trades are mutually beneficial and therefore are voluntary, and price signals redirect resources to their most valued uses. The prohibition on prostitution, however, has made it a very dangerous business for practitioners and customers alike. Prohibition has led to dominance by organized crime interests and local strong-men and -women. It has also thickened the intersection of prostitution with other prohibited activities, such as the drug trade. This creates a toxic criminal environment within which women are trapped and abused. Legalizing prostitution would liberate these individuals and create safer conditions for them and their customers. Private solutions would still be available to those who wish to keep prostitution out of their buildings or neighborhoods. And legalization is one way that sex could be made safely and voluntarily accessible to incels. Perhaps, one day soon, the availability of sex robots will help incels satisfy their desires as well. Some incels will still harbor strong resentment toward those for whom sex is not out of reach. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to ask whether such a “voluntary redistribution of sex” would not produce unambiguous social benefits. To deny these benefits to groups like the disabled, or really to anyone with a physical or emotional inability to find a willing partner, and to insist that sex workers be exposed to danger and abuse, is not just priggish, but cruel.

Prohibition Disaster: Opioid Edition

18 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in Prohibition

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Opioid deaths in the U.S. keep climbing inexorably. However, at the same time, prescriptions for all opioids have decreased for four straight years (2013-2016), according to the Center for Disease Control, and prescriptions for high-dose opioids have decreased for seven straight years (2010-2016). Further decreases are expected when prescriptions are reported for 2017. How does the declining supply square with the increasing death rate? Contrary to popular belief, opioid prescriptions are not now and never were the cause of opioid overdose deaths. The causes are  complex, but they have everything to do with ill-fated efforts to regulate prescriptions and prohibit some opioids.

Fatal Fun

In this informative interview, Dr. Jeffrey Singer explains that 75% of opioid deaths occur among “recreational” users who have never obtained a legitimate prescription. The recent increases in overdose deaths have been dominated by “other synthetic opioids” like fentanyl and heroin, both of which are illegal (except for fentanyl in patches or anesthesia). Oddly, heroin is not legal for medical use in the U.S., despite the fact that it is less than half as powerful as Dilaudid, which Singer says is used fairly routinely to relieve severe pain.

Singer debunks a widespread notion about the dynamic underlying opioid deaths:

“…first of all the narrative that everyone has bought into, and this is very frustrating to us practitioners, is that the opioid overdose death problem is a direct result of doctors prescribing pain medicine for patients. So, the popular notion is that I’d write a prescription for an opioid for my patient for pain, my patient becomes a drug addict, and then starts resorting to all sorts of illegal behavior in search of the drug. He becomes a dope fiend, and then he eventually overdoses and dies. … That is not what’s going on.“

From the very beginning, the problem of opioid use was driven by an appetite for recreational drugs. Certainly there are people with legitimate medical needs who develop a dependence or addiction and ultimately turn to the black market for continuing supplies. Dr. Singer does not deny that. But there are also individuals who manage to use these drugs recreationally without ever compromising their lives or livelihoods (see Singer’s anecdote about the “Father of American Surgery”, William Halsted). Unfortunately, however, there are recreational users who become dependent or addicted, just as some do with alcohol.

Where do the opioid supplies come from? Of course, heroin and fentanyl make their way onto the market from overseas, and supplies of prescription opioids also make their way onto the black market. For a real buzz, a lot of oxycodone can be extracted from a OxyContin capsule to bypass its slow release. In fact, illegally-obtained OxyContin became a major source of recreational opioid use following its introduction in the 1990s. At the time, physicians were encouraged to be more aggressive in addressing pain management. But the increase in legitimate use for pain brought a concomitant increase in leakage of pills onto the black market. Rx pads are stolen, a few patients might sell legitimate prescriptions, and pills are stolen from medicine cabinets at parties or over at Grampa’s place, for example.

We’re Watching You, Herr Doktor

Efforts to reduce the availability of opioids have been underway for a number of years now. The DEA has mandated reductions in the quantity of opioids manufactured (25% in 2016 and 20% in 2017). The crackdown on so-called “pill-mills” might have helped stem the flow of opioids to the illegal market, especially in Florida, but the measures included strict supply quotas that have harmed those with legitimate needs for the medications. The DEA reclassified hydrocondone as a Schedule II drug, imposing maximum dosages that are too low to relieve the pain experienced by some patients. All 50 states now have prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), which follow prescribing doctors and patients. Singer says PDMPs have a chilling effect on doctors even when their patients’ needs are legitimate. Finally, the FDA has supported pharmaceutical companies in developing “abuse-deterrent formulations” that can’t be crushed or liquified. And those companies have a strong incentive to do so as they can obtain new patents in the process! Some states have required insurers to cover the new formulations, ending the sale of cheaper generics. That is a nice crony deal for big pharma!

While Endangering Lives

The restrictive policies have led to substitution of heroin for opioid pills, as this Notre Dame study shows. The policies endanger: 1) patients with legitimate needs for pain management; 2) occasional users who are otherwise productive members of society; and 3) heavy recreational users. With greater reliance on black market heroin, there is no way for users to tell exactly what they’re getting: it’s probably impure and it’s often amped with fentanyl, or fentanyl sold as heroin. Fentanyl is 50 times as powerful as morphine and 7 – 8 times as powerful as heroin! Singer describes the severe information problem facing users of black market intoxicants:

“… when I go into the supermarket or liquor store to buy a bottle of liquor and I see on the label it says, let’s say, ’80 proof,’ or ‘15% alcohol,’ the thought never crosses my mind that it may not be that, that it could be adulterated with all sorts of impurities or laced with something that could kill me. I believe what it says on the label, because it’s legal, and in the legal market. 

Number one, they have competitors and number two, I have recourse if I’ve been defrauded and injured. But, when were dealing with the illegal market, you go to somebody in a subterranean way who says, ‘Yeah, I have what you want.’ And you don’t know if it’s the dose, you don’t know if it’s pure, that’s what’s happening. In fact, what we’ve learned, because of the narrative that it’s a doctor’s prescribing, since about 2010, 2011, all of the policies of both the federal government and the state governments have been aimed at curtailing the amounts of opioids prescribed.“

Prohibition always creates more danger for users. Adulteration of is one side of it. In “Legalizing Opioids Would Dramatically Reduce Overdose Deaths“, Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron adds that prohibition leads to mixing with other legal or illegal substances:

“In 2013, 77 percent of deaths involving prescription opioids involved mixing with either alcohol or another drug. If opioids are easily accessible, people tend to use the substance they desire; when access is limited, however, some consumers obtain an insufficient quantity and therefore improvise with alcohol, benzodiazepines, and other drugs. Taking these drugs together increases the risk of overdose, especially when dealing with depressants like opioids ….“

Miron and Singer both discuss the risks created by prohibition for users who have developed tolerance to the drugs. Miron says:

“[Tolerance] makes usage less dangerous as the body develops resistance to opioids’ respiratory-depressing effects. … [but] under prohibition users who have developed tolerance get cut off, whether by legal or medical restrictions or by being forced into non-[Medically-Assisted Treatment] treatment. Tolerance then declines, according to medical experts in drug rehabilitation, so users who resume use are more prone to suffer an overdose.

One study proposes that environmental factors also influence tolerance, and that ‘a failure of tolerance should occur if the drug is administered in an environment that has not, in the past, been associated with that drug.’ Therefore, prohibition may increase the chance of overdose by driving users out of their routine into unfamiliar settings in which their tolerance against the respiratory effect of opioids is diminished. “

Finally, by encouraging the development of a black market, prohibition drives up prices, prompting some users to engage in crime to finance their highs. Prohibition itself cedes the market to underworld elements, whose competition culminates in gangsterism and violence.

Medically-Assisted Treatment

Singer believes resources should be redeployed: less drug regulation and interdiction efforts and more harm reduction programs and medically-assisted treatment (MAT):

“… when you take [Methadone] orally, it gets absorbed from the gut. It levels that bind with your opioid receptors enough so you won’t experience withdrawal symptoms. … And the idea behind methadone maintenance is that you get used to not, it’s sort of, behavior modification. You’re blunting withdrawal symptoms, but you’re getting used to not feeling the high. And then it’s hoped that over time, you can be tapered off the methadone. And now you don’t crave the high anymore, and you’re over your addiction problem. That’s the idea behind medical-assisted treatment, whether it’s methadone or Suboxone or others.“

While doctors, within limits, can prescribe drugs to treat pain, they aren’t authorized to prescribe Methadone or Suboxone to treat addiction. But MAT can actually prevent people from dying! In addition, Singer mentions needle exchange programs to prevent the spread of hepatitis and HIV, and safe injection rooms:

“…you go into the room, you inject there, and then you leave. The needle is then discarded by the people who run the place. And not only that, but you have the bonus of somebody being around there with Narcan so if you overdose, because again, you’re using an illegally obtained substance, so you don’t know really what’s in it. … in Switzerland, they reported that teen heroin use has come down, because when the kids see these people going in and out of the clinic to get their injection, it doesn’t look cool.“

Conclusion

There are solutions to the deadly nature of the opioid epidemic, but prohibition is not one of them and never will be. If anything, prohibition in varying degrees has aggravated the dangers of opioids. To truly solve the problem, we should eliminate restrictions on the production and distribution of legal opioids for pain management, legalize heroin, and stop interfering in markets. That would be merciful for patients in real pain, make recreational use of opioids dramatically safer, and put an end to the gangland violence associated with underground competition. Second, redirect those resources into MATs and other harm reduction programs. Miron notes that legalization has worked in other countries, like Portugal and France, to reduce overdoses and opioid deaths. As a political matter, however, these steps might not be feasible unless we get over the cultural bias stigmatizing recreational opioid use as “evil”, and the idea that laws and enforcement can actually prevent people from trying to get high.

Happy Hour With Nanny: Cancer Cocktail or Cardio Cooler?

11 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by in Prohibition

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Last week brought news that even moderate alcohol consumption can increase your risk of cancer. I heard it over and over, so it must be true! A report from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) cites research findings of elevated risk of several types of cancer for drinkers, especially for heavy drinkers. It’s good to be aware of those associations, but drinking alcohol responsibly confers certain benefits that are more than compensatory. I won’t change my drinking habits on account of ASCO’s statement, and the findings in the report do not justify some of ASCO’s public policy recommendations.

Ronald Bailey in Reason was quick to note that ASCO’s findings required some “cherry picking” of research findings. Aaron E. Carroll in The New York Times used the same words. ASCO’s conclusions relied upon studies that found increased risks between drinking alcohol and certain cancers without mentioning that some of the same studies found protective effects against other cancers. And both Bailey and Carroll point out that drinking mitigates other risks. Bailey quotes one influential study:

“… ‘light and moderate alcohol intake predicted reduced all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortalities in both men and women.’ That’s right, light to moderate drinkers not only had lower risks of dying from any cause or from cardiovascular diseases, but also lower risks of dying from cancer.“

And evidently, as Bailey notes, there may be positive social and economic advantages associated with a bit of tippling.

The ASCO report contains a section called “PUBLIC HEALTH STRATEGIES TO REDUCE HIGH-RISK ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION”. Bailey flatly states that ASCO is a group of “public health nannies” and summarizes their positions thusly:

“The group treats consuming alcohol as a pure public health problem to which the only solutions are various forms of prohibition. They recommend regulating alcohol outlet density; increasing alcohol taxes and prices; maintaining limits on days and hours of sale; enhancing enforcement of laws prohibiting sales to minors; restricting youth exposure to advertising of alcoholic beverages; and resisting further privatization of retail alcohol sales in communities with current government control.“

Oh, please, calm down! Yes, there are risks to boozing, the most dangerous of which are well known. As Carroll emphasizes, ASCO’s statement doesn’t change the calculus much. There are few risks presented by moderate enjoyment of adult beverages, and the benefits are compelling. Please keep the nanny state out of my liquor cabinet!

Our Homicidal Drug War

17 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by in Prohibition, War On Drugs

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Drug prohibition and the war on drugs are destructive policies and most burdensome to communities that can least afford it: impoverished and often minority neighborhoods. Drug laws and their enforcement likely account for the bulk of homicides that occur there, directly or indirectly. A post on SacredCowChips last week discussed the violence that frequently beleaguers communities that are home to unassimilated minorities. Drug prohibition compounds the tragedy in several ways: deadly rivalry among supplier organizations; violent confrontations with law enforcement; user criminality; drug-related incarceration; degraded user productivity; and tainted supplies that exacerbate health risks for users.

Ultimately, bad laws are distinguished by their failure to achieve broad compliance. The thing is, people who want to do drugs will do so regardless of their legality. Most recreational users are sufficiently imbued with a survival instinct and the self-control to govern their use effectively, without ostensible harm. Nearly all recreational users believe they are engaging in a harmless activity, and most of them are right. That is, quite simply, why the drug war just doesn’t work, and it won’t ever work. It doesn’t work for pot, LSD, cocaine, or anything else, including opioids and heroin. (Also see this.)

Prohibition, however, delivers the drug trade into the hands of gangs and mobsters. The supply side of the business attracts individuals having few legitimate market opportunities, who happen to be concentrated in economically depressed neighborhoods. The drug trade’s illegality transforms it into a risky and violent enterprise, and efforts to enforce prohibition magnify those dangers and expose law enforcement to great risk as well. Then, there are the effects of mass incarceration on individuals and their home communities. The situation is self-reinforcing, adding to the instability of these struggling areas.

There is ample evidence that drug prohibition is a driver of crime and responsible for a large number of homicides in the U.S. A Chicago prosecutor was quoted by HuffPo in 2013 as saying that 80% of homicides in the city were gang-related, and therefore primarily drug-related. Economist Jeffrey Miron has linked drug prohibition to international differences in violent crime rates. Scott Sumner has this take on the drug war and crime rates, including a brief analysis of the drop in homicides (40%) after alcohol prohibition was repealed. In 1991, Milton Friedman stated that the repeal of drug laws would eliminate about 10,000 U.S. homicides every year, which at the time would have been about a 40% reduction. And here is Yale’s Dan Kahan on the subject of drug laws and homicide:

“The weight of the evidence pretty convincingly shows that drug-related homicides generated as a consequence of drug prohibition are tremendously high and account for much of the difference in the homicide rates in the U.S. and those in comparable liberal market societies.“

In my last post on the U.S. homicide rate, I drew on Britigne Shaffer’s On the Banks blog post entitled “Michael Owen Nails the Gun Debate“. As log as we have prohibition and a drug war, the U.S. homicide rate is likely to exceed most other industrialized countries:

“We have a system in place where the government subsidizes poverty in urban areas, imposes economic blight in those same areas through heavy taxes and regulations, renders the residents permanently unemployable via the ‘criminal justice’ (sic) system, and creates a lucrative black market in drugs by restricting supply (not to mention increasing demand as people are desperate to escape their circumstances by getting high), meaning the only game in town is often entering the drug trade. The drug trade is violent because those in it have no access to courts to settle disputes. Powerful industries lobby to keep the drug war going; the top spenders are law enforcement unions, the prison industry, big alcohol, tobacco, and pharma.“

The CATO Institute‘s Handbook for Policymakers, Issue #23, advocates the following: repeal of the Controlled Substances Act; allowing states to pursue their own initiatives without federal interference; complete repeal of mandatory minimum sentences; and termination of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). These actions would allow the federal government to focus its resources on real threats, rather than fighting an unending war with an underworld empowered by those very laws, and with Americans who wish to exercise freedom over their use of drugs for medicinal or recreational use. From the CATO Handbook:

“Repeal of prohibition would take the astronomical profits out of the drug business and destroy the drug kingpins who terrorize parts of our cities. It would reduce crime even more dramatically than did the repeal of alcohol prohibition. Not only would there be less crime: reform would also free federal agents to concentrate on terrorism and espionage and would free local police agents to concentrate on robbery, burglary, and violent crime. … The war on drugs has lasted longer than Prohibition, longer than the Vietnam War. Prohibition has failed, again, and should be repealed, again.”

Despite the destructive effects of prohibition, a great many Americans—and politicians—base their opinions about drug laws on flawed moral reasoning that somehow it is more “wrong” or more “dangerous” to do drugs than to drink alcohol, itself a drug posing great danger to abusers, but a legal one. Responsible drug use, like responsible drinking, is a victimless act, or would be without the engagement of underworld suppliers. But it’s clear that President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are committed to a continuation of the failed drug war, as are a majority of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. The drug-related killings will continue, as will the ongoing damage to so many American families and communities. The refusal to end the drug war is a tragedy of many tragedies past and future.