Marijuana

Declaring something illegal should cause the supply curve to shift to the left; both increasing the price of the good and decreasing the quantity demanded. It also causes producers of the good to go underground, where there are no regulations on the good being produced.

Today, many countries are facing the problem of how to deal with illegal drugs. According to an article on yahoo.com, the Netherlands are proposing a pilot program to regulate marijuana in the same manner as tobacco. The sale of marijuana would then come with warnings of its side effects; much like the sale of tobacco products. Dutch officials believe that this program will allow both the growth and sale of marijuana products to be regulated. If nothing else, this type of system is should deter the use of underground marijuana sales – when the consumer has no way of knowing what they are really putting into their body.

Do you think this pilot program will have positive or negative consequences for the Netherlands? If it helps them control the use of marijuana, do you think that it will be applied to other drugs? If it is successful, do you see the U.S. instituting a program like this in the future?