Justifications for Liberal and Prohibitive Drug Strategies in the Presence of Market Failure
Vapaa, Annika (2022)
Vapaa, Annika
2022
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022031723995
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022031723995
Tiivistelmä
Finland has a restrictive drug policy that seeks to reduce drugs in society through criminalization and control. The Greens approved an initiative calling for the decriminalization of cannabis in September 2021. This thesis uses content analysis to compare and evaluate how these policies can be justified or denied. Rational addiction theory and behavioral economics are utilized to discuss the assumption of rational individuals in the context of drug use. The concepts of externalities and external costs are presented to evaluate the trade-off between positive and negative consequences of drug consumption on a theoretical level. The importance of societal attitudes for the results of my thesis was surprisingly significant, as a majority of the arguments used in the analysis culminated on prevailing opinions about cannabis consumption. As behavioral economics supports prohibitive legislation in correcting harmful behavior, the results are dependent on the societally prevailing definition of harmful behavior. Negative externalities compared the social costs and benefits created by cannabis consumption to find a socially optimal level to be aspired. These costs and benefits are not solely monetary, as some aspects can be derived from societal attitudes. Due to difficulties in quantifying and attaining the relevant information, this thesis found that the outcome of the trade-off between costs and benefits depends on individual’s perceptions of the positive and negative consequences of cannabis use.