Economics and drugs.

• Author: Adams, Tucker Hart
• Position: The ECONOMIST

I ATTENDED A FASCINATING LECTURE THIS week by a Mexican economist on the drug war in his country. It got me to thinking about one more economic-politic issue to get off my chest before I go back to more interesting subjects like moral hazard and rent and unemployment. I know you can hardly wait.

You know that I'm a big believer in the workings of the free market as long as there are lots of buyers and lots of sellers. At first glance one would think that means a free drug market. There certainly are plenty of buyers and sellers. But I remember something Kenneth Boulding, a famous economist who ended his career at the University of Colorado, told me. "You can't have a free market in addictive substances because, by definition, the buyer cannot control his demand."

Now, I don't know whether marijuana is addictive or not. Some claim it is; others say it isn't. I was too old in the 1960s to be part of the drug culture, married with four little girls. My first and last experience with pot was at a football game at CV in the 1970s, when one of my economics students offered me a puff. My husband's only experience was about the same time, at an end of the semester party for an evening class he taught in Boulder. He happily, albeit unknowingly, enjoyed a pot-laced brownie his students brought to the potluck.

But let's assume marijuana isn't addictive, more like alcohol than nicotine (a habit-forming substance, incidentally, that we allow to be freely bought and sold). The government has no business legislating morality--that's a job for the churches and parents. So economic principle suggests pot should be grown, sold, taxed and consumed by those who choose to partake. Where necessary it should be regulated, just as other things we consume are regulated. If it affects one's ability to operate a car or heavy equipment, then there need to be appropriate laws enforced by authorities.

I know, I know. Blood tests won't work because, unlike alcohol, it stays in your bloodstream long after it affects your ability to drive. At least, that is one of the claims, which certainly can be confirmed or rejected by scientists. I have confidence that we can come up with a test...