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I live in a place where the government had a monopoly on alcohol retail until recently (Ontario, Canada). I don't think it had any impact on sales. The biggest

I live in a place where the government had a monopoly on alcohol retail until recently (Ontario, Canada). I don't think it had any impact on sales. The biggest factor was price, the government fixed the prices fairly high (but those prices were the same for the retail exceptions, such as brewers' own premises). > Personally I believe even drugs like heroin should be legal, on the basis of harm reduction, but at the same time, I don't see a problem with e.g. restricting where it can be sold Well, if you nationalize heroin retail, then you will need to have a heroin shop in every hamlet, town, and neighbourhood. It hardly seems practical. You'll just end up with a somewhat smaller black market, instead of eliminating it.

rectang 9y ago
I am skeptical of your don't-bother-regulating-because-it-has-no-effect arguments. Cigarette usage in the world, for example, seems to correlate well with how unfettered commercial suppliers are. Everything we know about retail says that convenience and marketing impact sales. Advertising works, or companies wouldn't buy ads. Premium shelf placement works or retailers wouldn't study it to death. Getting people hooked works or pushers at every level wouldn't bother. Addiction to hard drugs (e.g. opioids) is a huge ball of misery and human suffering. It bothers me that you shrug that off so easily.
vidarh 9y ago
The point of having the monopoly is be able to strictly enforce restrictions on things like marketing through an organization that is judged by compliance rather than by selling as much as possible. > Well, if you nationalize heroin retail, then you will need to have a heroin shop in every hamlet, town, and neighbourhood. It hardly seems practical. You'll just end up with a somewhat smaller black market, instead of eliminating it. Yet somehow places like Norway, with a population density nearly identical to Ontario manages to keep the black market for wine and spirits quite small, despite very high taxes on them compared to e.g. neighboring Denmark. Which means there already is a suitable retail network. Or you can license pharmacies. And the big difference is that people would be assured of getting clean, uncut, predictable doses. The cost of heroin is also so high and unstable that while there is reason to be concerned about making it too cheap, a large portion of the harm from heroin today is the high cost. The daily consumption of heroin for a typical user in clean, medical grade heroin costs less than $20 (we know, because it is produced for medical use, and prescribed e.g. in UK hospitals).

rectang 9y ago

I am skeptical of your don't-bother-regulating-because-it-has-no-effect arguments. Cigarette usage in the world, for example, seems to correlate well with how unfettered commercial suppliers are. Everything we know about retail says that convenience and marketing impact sales. Advertising works, or companies wouldn't buy ads. Premium shelf placement works or retailers wouldn't study it to death. Getting people hooked works or pushers at every level wouldn't bother. Addiction to hard drugs (e.g. opioids) is a huge ball of misery and human suffering. It bothers me that you shrug that off so easily.

vidarh 9y ago

The point of having the monopoly is be able to strictly enforce restrictions on things like marketing through an organization that is judged by compliance rather than by selling as much as possible. > Well, if you nationalize heroin retail, then you will need to have a heroin shop in every hamlet, town, and neighbourhood. It hardly seems practical. You'll just end up with a somewhat smaller black market, instead of eliminating it. Yet somehow places like Norway, with a population density nearly identical to Ontario manages to keep the black market for wine and spirits quite small, despite very high taxes on them compared to e.g. neighboring Denmark. Which means there already is a suitable retail network. Or you can license pharmacies. And the big difference is that people would be assured of getting clean, uncut, predictable doses. The cost of heroin is also so high and unstable that while there is reason to be concerned about making it too cheap, a large portion of the harm from heroin today is the high cost. The daily consumption of heroin for a typical user in clean, medical grade heroin costs less than $20 (we know, because it is produced for medical use, and prescribed e.g. in UK hospitals).