Drug policy targets elastic versus inelastic demand rather than drug types

Evidence

So we need low prices for addicts and very high prices for non-addicts. You know that this is a view which sought expression in a p0licy of distinguishing not so much between so_called soft drugs and hard drugs, as between drugs with an inductive value and drugs without an inductive value, and above all between elastic and inelastic types of drug consumption. From this stems a policy of law enforcement directed towards new and potential consumers, small dealers, and the small trade that takes place on street corners; a policy oflaw enforcement according to an economic rationality of the market differentiated in terms of the elements I have referred to. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1353

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains ‘opening price,’ elastic vs. inelastic demand as applied to drug policy design.
• XREF: connects to: Drug enforcement can be engineered through price rather than prohibition — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1351; War-on-Drugs doctrine preferred punishment over treatment by design; Drug war enforcement has coincided with falling rather than rising drug prices — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1077

Broader Connections

• Drug enforcement can be engineered through price rather than prohibition #corroborates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1351
• War-on-Drugs doctrine preferred punishment over treatment by design #complicates (0.75)
• Drug war enforcement has coincided with falling rather than rising drug prices #corroborates (0.72) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1077