An Economic Analysis of the Illicit Drug Market

Bernard, Godwin Anthony

doi:10.3109/10826088309027363

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…For example, Kaplan (1983) and White & Luksetich (1983) have argued in favour of price-elasticity because 'addicts can stretch out the time between injections'. Holahan (1973) and Bernard (1983) have argued in favour of elasticity because addicts can switch to other drugs. Blair & Voge!…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of law enforcement activity on a heroin market

Weatherburn

Lind

1997

Addiction

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It may be argued that seizing large quantities of heroin being imported into the country should decrease its supply and hence increase its price, resulting in a reduction in the quantity of the drug being purchased or consumed. To date, however, there has been no empirical evidence that heroin seizures in Australia have any effect on the price of heroin at street level. This article describes a 2-year research study during which the price and purity of street-level heroin were regularly monitored. It was found that heroin seizures had no effect on the price, purity or perceived availability of heroin at street level. It was further found that admissions to methadone treatment were not affected by the price or perceived availability of heroin or by local arrests for heroin use/possession, nor was any relationship found between these arrests and the price of street-level heroin. Nevertheless, two-thirds of those who sought entry to local methadone programmes indicated the price as a reason for stopping using heroin. This paper argues that supply-side law enforcement should only be used as a strategy for maintaining high heroin prices if the demand for heroin can be shown to be price-elastic and, further, that the costs of such a strategy need to be weighted against the benefits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of law enforcement activity on a heroin market

Weatherburn

Lind

1997

Addiction

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“…Rottenberg was an early contributor, but he was not alone during the 1960s and 1970s in his efforts to create a rational conceptual framework for evaluating alternative public policy investments (e.g., where to focus intervention resources). Readers will benefi t from a review of contemporaneous contributions by Erickson (1969) , Greenwood (1971) , Koch and Grupp (1971) , Nisbet and Vakil (1972) , Phares (1973) , Eatherly (1974) , Yeager (1975) , Votey andPhillips (1976) , andBernard (1983) as well as more recent work from Jonathan Caulkins and his colleagues (e.g., Caulkins, Feichtinger, Tragler, & Wallner, 2010 ). Some of these contributions were fairly narrow in scope, as with Greenwood ' s attempt to estimate prevalence of drug use.…”

Section: Systems Science Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%