Need help finding data on the impact of decriminalizing drugs at the federal level.

[hammy]

Does anybody have any graphs or statistics on violent crimes in countries with legalized drug use BEFORE and AFTER? I can't seem to find anything either way.

[hammy]

Anybody? I'm trying to win over a potential RP supporter

[sailingaway]

There is a bunch of stuff on Portugal, apparently. I don't have it but you might try googling that. I guess they literally legalized (not just decriminalized) everything and all sorts of crimes went down. There is a youtube people post when people are asking what would happen if the federal drug war were ended. I'm going to modify your title a bit.

[GeorgiaAvenger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yauIos473W4

[hammy]

I love that video. In case anyone is wondering, the homicide rates went UP when drugs were decriminalized in PORTUGAL. I found that out on this 37 page paper: http://emlab.berkeley.edu/econ/ugrad/theses/yablon_daniel.pdf. HOWEVER, right after the author makes that point, he explains that the data is unreliable based on poor control groups or something like that. I'm not sure. I skimmed over it. But basically all crimes went down, and homicides stayed about the same.

[redmod79]

It makes sense that there would be a spike in crimes in the years immediately after decriminalization. The crazies are essentially unchained. Once these people have weeded themselves out, crime might go down. It's too early to tell. I don't think that data is good support.

[sailingaway]

Ron typically points to what happened here with prohibition and bootlegging and gang crimes surrounding that, and what happened when alcohol was legalized. Don't know if that helps. He is specifically thinking about the cartels, there.

[centure7]

Obviously you should to take a look at prohibition! Research the growth of the mafia through the 20's. What kind of gang problems happened in the 20's with prohibition?

I can tell you right now that the studies have strongly mixed results. Some studies will tell you prohibition helped with various health aspects, while others will say it hurt heath aspects. You also should study what happened with the mafias as well. I don't know where to find those studies off the top of my head, though I'm certainly very interested in what you find and hope you keep us up to date with the studies whether or not you like their findings.