I wonder if that's so.

The thing about drugs is... they're REALLY fucking cheap.  That's why we can't keep them out.  If you get one pound of cocaine through for every 1,000 you lose you make a profit. (or something crazy like that.)

So either most drugs would be STUPIDLY cheap, or would be taxed up to near current levels and allow drug dealers to undercut legitamite buisness.

Afterall there are pretty big black market cigarrette rings based around the taxes western companies have.

I think the war on drugs should be ended, so people can make their own choices with there body.... but I question whether it would really solve all the drug issues.

i would argue the issue with the Mexican drug war is more on the "mexican" part of it than the drug part, being largely a product of Mexican political problems

Probably.  I haven't really paid much attention to the mexican drug war to be honest with you. 

Mexico Reminds me a lot of Japan.  Too much power concentrated in one party which leads to rampant corruption.

Just pointing out drugs are a lot cheaper then people think... in a free market drugs are gonna be a lot cheaper then a lot of people are probably comfortable with.

i would argue the issue with the Mexican drug war is more on the "mexican" part of it than the drug part, being largely a product of Mexican political problems

I wonder if that's so.

The thing about drugs is... they're REALLY fucking cheap.  That's why we can't keep them out.  If you get one pound of cocaine through for every 1,000 you lose you make a profit. (or something crazy like that.)

So either most drugs would be STUPIDLY cheap, or would be taxed up to near current levels and allow drug dealers to undercut legitamite buisness.

Afterall there are pretty big black market cigarrette rings based around the taxes western companies have.

I think the war on drugs should be ended, so people can make their own choices with there body.... but I question whether it would really solve all the drug issues.

fixed

Well, I assume you mean cheap to manufacture, not cheap to the consumer (afterall, the street price for cocaine around here is £50 a gram... wouldn't call that a bargain, though prices will vary across countries and regions).

But that's exactly the point. Street prices are high because of the war on drugs. Contrary to popular belief, the USA is extremely good at detecting and preventing drug imports, and only the large cartels can afford to get past all the barriers.

It works no different to regulations in other industries. The large corporations benefit from the Government intervention because they are large enough to absorb the imposed costs, and the reduction in competition allows them to charge a much higher price than what they have in costs from the intervention.

It is precisely because of this that the cartels can now afford to effectively become private armies, cut away the regulation, allow greater competition, the cartels' revenues and margins will dramatically decrease, and they will not be able to buy as many guns. Simple.

As for your tobacco argument, you do make a great point. There will still be an illegal market for drugs if the Government decides to regulate/tax legal drugs too highly. Here's the thing, though: the illegal tobacco industry has a far lower share of the tobacco market than what the drug cartels do of the drug market. If the prices between legal/illegal are similar, most will opt for legal, as they have a better guarantee of quality, and they will know the misery that the cartels cause (like fake clothing... lots of people opt out of buying fake clothing because they know the manufacturers are worse than the legit manufacturers).

In order to compensate for this, the illegals will drop their prices, like illegal tobacco producers have, which, again, will result in a drop in revenues and a drop in margins, and thus help to reduce the violence.

Well i'll put it this way.  Cocaine is 50 pounds a gram in europe?

A Kilo wholesale is $1200. 

In pounds... that means instead of 50 pounds a gram... wholesale is   

.76 of a pound per gram.

Even if you triple the price...

That's like 2.30 for a gram.

Kinda crazy no?