Increased Enforcement And The Absence Of Drug Prohibition

Increased enforcement, in the form of laws that decrease the scope of exceptions, places some additional transactions outside the realm of legal dispute resolution mechanisms. This leads to violent disagreements, which may seem counterintuitive to Prohibitionists. Statistical results “suggest the homicide rate is currently 25%-75% higher than it would be in the absence of drug prohibition.” (David Friedman). For example, Figure 1 shows the U.S. homicide rate from 1900-2000, providing evidence that homicide rates during the alcohol prohibition from 1920-1933 were significantly higher. Additionally, as the U.S. was on the precipice of the war on drugs in the late 1960s, we see the homicide rate spike up with increased efforts to prohibit illegal