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| Oozing with promise | |
The Economist (2004-11-20) reports
some cheering news about Afghanistan - a bumper
opium crop. Apparently the area under opium poppy cultivation has jumped by 64%
this year. It is gratifying to see Afghans embracing capitalism so quickly
after being freed from their strict and oppressive government. It's not that the new government approves of their entrepreneurship, or even
that the government which removed the old one approves of it - it's just that
the new government is too ineffectual to prevent it. Many would argue of course
that the best government is an ineffectual one, but that raises issues of the
security of private ownership, and maybe that is a debate for another time. But the local farmers are now (relatively) free to produce an export
product highly in demand in The West - heroin. A cheap and (if taken
with care and moderation in its pure form) relatively safe form of
entertainment for those on low incomes. Plasma TVs, skiing holidays, fast cars, and dinners on the town also
constitute good entertainment but they are hideously expensive, particularly
with a 50% effective marginal tax rate. A
shot of heroin feels every bit as good as the black-run on the slopes of Mt
Buller or a 200Km/hr drive through Sydney harbor tunnel in a Maserati, and you
don't have to leave the safety of your own home to enjoy it. Of course the problem is that heroin is so cheap that it doesn't raise much
tax. Having someone choose to
live in a single room apartment, working one day a week and spending the other
six watching a black and white TV stoned on heroin would be a pretty good life
for many Western residents. But it would raise very little tax for greedy
Western governments. When governments are in a fix, they usually start a war. And the War on Drugs has been a
beauty. The only casualties are (by definition) 'sinners' or victims of others, the cost is
the billions of tax dollars stolen from the population to fight it, and the war
perpetuates - because it can never be said to be lost or won. Hopefully the coming influx of heroin will lower street prices in the
West. This will mean that the heroin on the streets will be cut with less
cement powder and other chemicals; it will mean that buying it will be easier,
and will involve less risk for users; and hopefully the cheaper price will make
it less attractive for users to steal in order to buy it. Who said that the other war (the War on Terror) was producing no dividends?
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