"Alistair J Murray" <news (AT) fluffy (DOT) f9.co.uk> wrote



Its barely an issue as most drivers struggle to exceed 40mph
They incidentally continue at this speed regardless of the speed limit or
surroundings (30 limits , schools etc)

"AndrewR" <andrew (AT) rockface (DOT) freeserve.co.uk> wrote

I understand what you're getting at, but I strongly suspect that other
arguments would weigh in and screw up the logic. First, there's going to be
an issue around making something available on the cheap and thus stimulating
demand for something that certainly isn't good for you. Imagine a government
reducing the tax on cigarettes to £1 a packet, for example.

Second, any government is going to look longingly at pills costing £1 a
throw legally where previously they used to be £2 a throw illegally, and
they're going to succumb to the temptation to ratchet the tax up, so that
within a few years your fix of cake costs you more than before. You're
already hooked so whatcha gonna do?

This will then allow the intercession of arbitrageurs into the market, who
start trucking in drugs like they now truck in "illegal" cigarettes. In fact
the cigarette analogy is a useful one - in theory, in a genuine single
market, cigarette smuggling wouldn't be smuggling at all. The fact that it
is speaks volumes about the attitude of governments; the so-called single
market isn't single at all if government revenues are at risk.

Nice idea but I can't believe it will work. If it's £5 a packet for normal
cigarettes, a pack of 20 spliffs is going to be at least double or treble
that, and I imagine that makes them pricier than they are now? Which will
allow a slightly different type of criminal back into the supply chain.

"RipVanWinkle" <arethereanynames (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

I should have said "Water would be taxed as heavily as petrol"....

John Redman wrote:
I think this argument runs differently for hard and soft drugs, because the
price mechanism on hard drugs acts as a control on crime levels. If the
government push up the price of hard drugs too much then crime goes up to
match, if they keep the price low then crime stays down.

At the moment the Home Office says that every pound it spends on treatment
for addicts saves £3 in crime avoided, so it's a more sensible economic
model to keep the price low.

I agree that it's a good analogy to a point, yes the governement has hiked
up the price to the point where it becomes profitable to smuggle, but
remember that the purpose of the legalising drugs campaign isn't just to
line the government's pockets through the sale of drugs, it's also to save
money on enforcement and to actually help the end-users.

Remeber also that a packet of fags from France will be much the same as a
packet of fags bought legitamitely in the UK, but your dose of pure heroin
bought through government controlled sources will probably be a lot
different from a dose bought on the black market in the country of origin,
shipped across the world, cut and sold to you by a dodgy bloke on the street
corner. How much would the price difference have to be before you'd buy the
latter over the former? Furthermore there has to be a big enough accessible
market who would rather have the latter as it's just not worth running an
international smuggling ring for a handful of doses.

There's no reason that cannabis has to be supplied as a ready-rolled
cigarette - keep the supply going as a plant or a resin and life trundles on
the price of cannabis remains unlinked to that of tobacco. I do still think
it has to be kept cheaper than harder drugs though, for fairly obvious
reasons.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1, Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

Alcohol doesn't have any taste or smell.
Its neutral until flavoured.
its also clear until coloured.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember <grippa (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> saying
something like:

I can smell it.

I can taste it.

Agreed.
--

Dave