Legalising heroin (and possibly other illegal ones)

Taxes don't contribute to the economy. By taxing alcohol or tobacco, the government is simply redistributing wealth from people who use those products to the general population. The national income isn't increased by a single penny. If people drop out of the work force, then the national income goes down by the wages they're no longer making.

Edit: I thought I'd add this for the leftists here: Who uses alcohol and cigarettes most, the poor or the rich? Who spends a larger portion of their income on those things? The answer is obvious. Alcohol and tobacco taxes take money from the poor and give it to the general population. They are highly regressive taxes.

But I don't believe that pharmaceuticals should sell legalised heroin to the general public. It should only be available free on the NHS.

^^ Well actually if the good is a bad (which seems pretty obvious to most people), demand would be 0.

I may be wrong but I believe most countries that have legalised or decriminalised a previously controlled substance see a spike in demand immediately after followed by a drop to at or below pre-legalised levels?

It's not a bad. People actually want it.

^^ Well actually if the good is a bad (which seems pretty obvious to most people), demand would be 0.

I don't think the thing stopping most of the population taking heroin is the price. The vast majority of the population wouldn't take it even if you paid them.

What I'm driving at is that I don't think reducing the price to 0 will significantly affect the number of users - most people know heroin is terrible for them. Conceivably a few might try it for a dare, that is possible. But starving the criminal underworld of a major source of income - and removing all the crime addicts commit to procure heroin currently - seems like a fair trade off for this. Especially since to get heroin the addicts will have to go to a medical centre where presumably they can get advice and support.

A TINY minority of the population.

Do you really think price and/or illegality is what is putting people off now?

Here's an argument then:

1) The vast majority of people currently NOT doing heroin see it as a bad (i.e would not want to do it even if free and legal).

2) There are no costs associated with not taking heroin.

3) Given the choice, people will not take a bad if there are not costs assoiated with not doing so.

THEREFORE

4) The vast majority of people not taking heroin will not do it even if it is free and legal.



We might add that making heroin free and legal will lead to a large social benefit (basically the effect on crime + the health of those taking it).

I think you're precisely right here. Anyone who really wants to take heroin is able to - it's really not that hard to get hold of if you are so inclined. All that legalisation would do is allow legitimate companies to supply heroin on the market (and you've gotta be crazy if you think you'll suddenly be able to buy it in Tesco). Once the ridiculously high profit margin has disappeared and heroin producers are allowed to resolve disputes through legal ways, all the violence will vanish. Compare the number of deaths caused by beer producers before, during, and after Prohibition if you don't believe me.

I'm all for legalisation. It'll stop the crime associated with it, and, like someone said, let the addicts be the addicts.

... According to William S. Burroughs, you have to take heroin twice a day for 1-2 months to get addicted.

I'd try it.

That's nonsense. Are you really saying that there are no people who'd be willing to try heroin if it was cheaper and if there was no legal risk associated with it? Does capitalism magically stop working when it comes to drugs?

That's nonsense. Are you really saying that there are no people who'd be willing to try heroin if it was cheaper and if there was no legal risk associated with it? Does capitalism magically stop working when it comes to drugs?

imo i think that heroin should be one of the only drugs that should never be legalised. this may just be my unresearched view, but it seems to me at first glance that it is near impossible to take it in moderation and not become an addict unlike most other drugs. thus people need to be protected from themselves.

also what is the point of making it free? surely it should still cost money but the price should be low enough that it is simply not worth producing/dealing the drug, thus eliminating the crime element associated with it, yet still not making it a free for all. you dont see people selling home made cigarettes and alcohol on the streets do you? perhaps what money made from it should go straight back into treating addicts?

How vast is this majority?

A tiny minority of people who don't use heroin might still be more people than all the heroin users out there.