4 ms·

Thanks for this comment. I wasn't aware of the iron law of prohibition but it makes a ton of sense. The higher the risk, the more you optimize your supply chain

Thanks for this comment. I wasn't aware of the iron law of prohibition but it makes a ton of sense. The higher the risk, the more you optimize your supply chain to minimize physical contraband in travel, which means optimizing for product value per weight.

zkms 9y ago
The other effect is that drug prohibition can (and currently does) function as a subsidy for violent transnational criminal organisations: the difficulty in transporting contraband inflates its price at the destination, and if Alice's drug-trafficking operation can obtain a competitive advantage over Bob's by killing Bob's personnel; she just might. Without the doorkickers of the DEA and friends, there'd be no hyperviolent drug lords. Without prohibition, drug trafficking operations have to compete with fully licit container ships and will get annihilated; because the illicit drug trade's transport methods are optimised to evade detection and without that selection pressure, there's no point for all the violence and the concealment tactics.