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Prohibition or regulation: an economist's view of Australian heroin policy

Prohibition or regulation: an economist's view of Australian heroin policy Concern for the spread of HIV infection and with the growing social costsassociated with the policy of heroin prohibition have recently led many toreconsider the policy. A large question facing advocates of decriminalisation orlegalisation is to what extent the numbers of users would grow under a moreregulated scheme. “More regulated” because underprohibition there is a completely unregulated market, which is, however,illegal: lawless laissez-faire. This article advocates some degree of regulationfor the supply of heroin, and abandonment of the unsuccessful policy ofprohibition.In attempting to answer the question of the number of users under differentregimes — and their importance to society — the articleclosely examines the structure of the black market, using a previouslyunpublished survey of the illegal industry performed in Victoria some years agoby the illicit industry itself. This confirms recent findings that there arerelatively large numbers of occasional users who seldom come to the attention ofmedical or law-enforcement authorities, and whose heroin use per se imposeslittle cost on society. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology SAGE

Prohibition or regulation: an economist's view of Australian heroin policy

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References (26)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © by SAGE Publications
ISSN
0004-8658
eISSN
1837-9273
DOI
10.1177/000486589002300201
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Concern for the spread of HIV infection and with the growing social costsassociated with the policy of heroin prohibition have recently led many toreconsider the policy. A large question facing advocates of decriminalisation orlegalisation is to what extent the numbers of users would grow under a moreregulated scheme. “More regulated” because underprohibition there is a completely unregulated market, which is, however,illegal: lawless laissez-faire. This article advocates some degree of regulationfor the supply of heroin, and abandonment of the unsuccessful policy ofprohibition.In attempting to answer the question of the number of users under differentregimes — and their importance to society — the articleclosely examines the structure of the black market, using a previouslyunpublished survey of the illegal industry performed in Victoria some years agoby the illicit industry itself. This confirms recent findings that there arerelatively large numbers of occasional users who seldom come to the attention ofmedical or law-enforcement authorities, and whose heroin use per se imposeslittle cost on society.

Journal

Australian & New Zealand Journal of CriminologySAGE

Published: Jun 1, 1990

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