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Surprise! Prohibition leads to crime!

25 February 2007 in Human Nature, Politics by Stilgherrian | 1 comment

Gosh, who’d have thought? Ban tobacco in a jail, where almost everyone smokes the stuff, and suddenly black market cigarettes are US$125 a pack. Jailhouse cooks make more from smuggling than cooking.

Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, says: “It didn’t do anything but make (tobacco) a lucrative business.”

Thanks to the clever lads at Freakonomics for the pointer — and some fascinating follow-up comments from their readers.

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Tags: drugs, tobacco

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Stilgherrian on 25 February 2007 at 6:37 pm

And there’s further fascinating background in an article by economist Gary Becker and his commenters.

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