Drug decriminalization and the price of illicit drugs

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. This study is an empirical assessment of the impact of the drug decriminalization policy followed by Portugal in July, 2001. We investigate especially the impact of the policy change on the price of illicit drugs. The analysis is performed using a difference-in-differences approach and a comprehensive set of countries as control group. We also investigate the application of Synthetic Control Method in order to construct a synthetic control unit from a convex combination of other countries. The results suggest that the prices of opiates and cocaine in the post-treatment period did not decrease in the sequence of the policy change. This result contrasts with the argument that softer drug law enforcement necessarily leads to lower prices and, consequently, to higher drug usage rates and dependence.JEL Classification: C21, D04

Going after the Addiction, Not the Addicted: The Impact of Drug Decriminalization in Portugal

“…The authors also estimate that police costs for detection of drug-law offenses increased in the case of the specialized police force responsible for major drug-law offenses and decreased in the case of the non-specialized police forces. On the supply side, Félix and Portugal (2017) show that the prices of opiates and cocaine did not decrease in the sequence of the drug decriminalization in Portugal, which contrasts with the argument that softer drug law enforcement necessarily leads to lower prices and, consequently, higher drug usage rates.…”

Impact evaluations of drug decriminalisation and legal regulation on drug use, health and social harms: a systematic review

“…Two studies from Portugal examined healthcare and non-healthcare costs and psychoactive drug prices, respectively. 51 52 One study from Mexico examined drug-related criminal justice involvement (arrests) and (violent) crimes. 53 Finally, a study of historic opium legalisation in China (1801 to 1902) measured the price and availability (quantity of exports) of opium before and after legalisation.…”

Deaths from novel psychoactive substances in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: Evaluating the impact of the UK psychoactive substances act 2016

“…Notwithstanding, the PSA and MDA have worked together to reduce deaths amongst younger individuals living in more affluent areas, however it is clear that additional measures to prohibition are needed to curb their persistence in deprived demographics. Efforts to understand drug use as a disease rather than a crime to develop prevention, treatment and reintegration programmes to achieve drug-related harm reduction, as seen in Portugal, should be considered by UK policy makers ( Cowan, 1986 ; Félix and Portugal, 2017 ).…”

“…Indeed, whilst the PSA came under criticism when first introduced for its loose definition of psychoactive substances (see ‘Novel Psychoactive Substances’ below; ( ACMD, 2015 ), which could be interpreted as banning, amongst other things, flowers, perfume and the use of incense in churches ( Dunt, 2015 ), it was praised by drug policy reformers for not criminalising possession of NPS for personal consumption ( Transform, 2021 ). This was seen by some lobbyists as a positive step towards the ‘Portugal model’ of decriminalising possession whilst keeping supply illegal ( Cowan, 1986 ; Félix and Portugal, 2017 ). However, with the closure of ‘head shops’, the sourcing of NPS switched to street dealers and the darknet ( Deligianni et al, 2020 ), both which carry their own risks: The former exposes NPS users to dealers who want to sell more dangerous other drugs, and the latter makes users potentially prosecutable under the PSA as purchase of NPS online ( Deligianni et al, 2020 ; Miliano et al., 2018 ), even if intended for personal use, could be classed as import.…”