Eric Crampton • Jul 25, 2015 •
You grow pot in an illegal market; your toddler daughter eats a lot of it. If you take her to the emergency room, you'll likely be arrested. If you don't, very bad things could happen.I applaud Shain Iperen for finally making the right choice.But we sh... Read More
Eric Crampton • Jan 16, 2015 •
NZ had something beautiful in its framework for sale of psychoactive substances that hadn't already otherwise been banned. Show that they're safe, and you can sell them.Ross Bell shows how it went wrong from there.The number of retail outlets for "legal highs" was slashed, from as many as 4000 to fewer than 170. The number of products fell from … Read More
Eric Crampton • Jan 12, 2015 •
In Yandle's story, you need a mix of bootleggers and Baptists to get really bad policy. The Baptists provide the moral veneer for some atrocious policy, like alcohol prohibition, while the bootleggers quietly provide the cash to make sure things go smoothly. Nowadays, perhaps it's the meth dealers serving as bootleggers. Methamphetamine may be more popular in areas of … Read More
Eric Crampton • Jul 17, 2014 •
Tim Worstall's likely right about the price of marijuana in a fully free market. He notes that the price of marijuana per kilogramme, in Malawi, where much international tobacco production takes place, runs as low as $3, so a pack of 20 joints would be maybe about $0.50. He makes a few predictions as consequence:So, yes, I feel confident … Read More
Eric Crampton • Oct 01, 2013 •
Business Insider has a great write-up on Colorado's legalised marijuana markets. Currently restricted to medical marijuana sold through dispensaries, recreational use without prescription will be legal and anyone will be able to purchase from the dispensaries. They're expecting to raise $130m in taxes, although the tax mechanism is rather opaque. IRS won't let you take business deductions on … Read More
Eric Crampton • Oct 25, 2012 •
Stephen Gordon ably makes the case for market mechanisms over regulatory approaches to dealing with climate change. The deadweight costs of achieving any arbitrary level of greenhouse gas reduction are lower either under emissions trading or a carbon t... Read More