But the prohibition of cocaine and heroin may be more corrosive still. Here's where organized crime comes in, the cartels and kingpins and gangs of Crips and Bloods. These are the principal beneficiaries of drug prohibition. Yes, legal drugs, even if heavily taxed and extensively regulated, would no doubt be cheaper than illegal ones, which could mean more people sampling them out of curiosity. But this danger has to be weighed against the insidious marketing dynamic of iUegal drugs, whose wildly inflated prices compel the income user to become a pusher and recruiter of new users.
Drugs can kill, of course.
But drug prohibition kills too. It's gunshot wounds fill America's urban emergency rooms, not overdoses and bad trips. Then there's the perverse financial logic of prohibition. The billions spent a year in the U.S. on drug-related law enforcement represents money not spent on improving schools and rebuilding neighborhoods. Those who can't hope for the lasting highs of achieve and self-respect are aU too often condemned to crack.