Rebecca Ehren, Gina Gordon, & Kasey Greer
Sex, Booze, & Drugs: An Overview
Prostitution
Illegal everywhere in U.S. except certain Nevada counties
Prohibition
Illegal 1920-1933; resulting from temperance movement
“The War on Drugs”
Cocaine illegal 1914; increasingly strict laws to present
The Law Enforcement Approach
Target sellers, not buyers
Each arrest has the potential to prevent multiple
transactions
Possible risk raises opportunity costs for potential
suppliers, which decreases supply and increases the price
for buyers
Using law of demand, this increase in price should
decrease the quantity demanded
Issues with This Approach
The high opportunity costs for suppliers encourages them to
sell smaller quantities with greater potency to retain the same
profit
Booze
During Prohibition, speakeasies served more potent hard liquor,
increasing alcohol poisoning deaths
30x the number of people died from acute alcohol poisoning during
Prohibition than do today
Binge underage drinking
Drugs
Suppliers sell more of the purer drugs due to increased value per unit
$50,000: 1 pound pure heroin OR 100 pounds of marijuana
Regulation by law enforcement encourages suppliers to deal
with their problems internally instead of turning to the public
forum
Sex
Prostitutes in Nevada counties are regularly tested for AIDS and other
venereal diseases
Spread is nearly nonexistent versus Newark, NJ, where approximately
52% of prostitutes have AIDS
Booze & Drugs
Illegality draws criminals (who have a comparative advantage in illegal
activities)
Suppliers must resort to violence to uphold their contracts and deal with
disputes
After Prohibition ended, murder rate in America drops sharply
Implications of Chosen Approach
Illegal markets are less safe for consumers and society
Approach has not succeeded in eliminating the
underground markets
Prices of cocaine and heroin are at record low levels,
encouraging more buyers instead of deterring them
Is it time to rethink these policies?
Passage of the 21st Amendment
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