Does Drug Interdiction Increase or Decrease Drug Related Crime?

Fashion Institute of Technology
Department of Social Sciences
SS141 – Macroeconomics
Session 3 Homework Assignments
5.Chapter 5:Elasticity and Its Application
Topic:Does Drug Interdiction Increase or Decrease Drug Related Crime? (page 104). Discuss
The U.S. government makes huge investments annually to curb the flow of illicit drugs into the country through interdiction. Although drug interdiction aims to reduce drug use, its direct impact is on the sellers of drugs rather than the buyers. One primary strategy that the government uses to enforce interdiction is by recruiting more border patrol personnel and officers in agencies to fight drugs, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). These officers arrest smugglers and thus reduce the number of drugs that flow into the country. As a result, the demand for the drug remains the same, but the supply reduces. This puts more pressure on the available little drugs, and the few lucky sellers who manage to smuggle their drugs into the country are forced to increase the pieces of the drugs. This measure will have different effects on two different categories of drug users.
First, for the starters and young generation (non-addicts), the high prices will discourage them from purchasing these drugs after a certain period. They will start acknowledging that they can do without the drugs. The younger generations will not spend high amounts of money on drugs only for experimentation. Thus, in this situation, interdiction will reduce drug-related crimes.
Second, the interdiction will have a different effect on drug addicts. As the sellers increase the prices, drug addicts will do anything to get their hands on the drugs. This will include taking part in more criminal activities s...