Editing Drug prohibition (section)

==Cost==
{{Further|Drug liberalization}}
{{See also|Arguments for and against drug prohibition}}
In 2020, the direct cost of drug prohibition to United States taxpayers was estimated at over $40 billion annually.<ref>{{cite journal |title="The Great Pot Experiment": A Budding Industry: Wouldn't It Be Better If It Was a Legal Billion-Dollar Industry?  |volume=20 |journal=Hous. Bus. & Tax L.J. |page=82 |year=2020 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/houbtalj20&div=7&id=&page=}}</ref> Prohibition can increase [[organized crime]], [[government corruption]], and [[mass incarceration]] via the trade in illegal drugs, while racial and gender disparities in enforcement are evident.<ref name=Csete/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cohen |first1=Aliza |last2=Vakharia |first2=Sheila P. |last3=Netherland |first3=Julie |last4=Frederique |first4=Kassandra |author-link4=Kassandra Frederique |date=2022 |title=How the war on drugs impacts social determinants of health beyond the criminal legal system |journal=Annals of Medicine |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=2024–2038 |doi=10.1080/07853890.2022.2100926 |issn=0785-3890 |pmc=9302017 |pmid=35852299 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Kimberly |last2=Pinchuk |first2=Irina |last3=Melgar |first3=Marie Isabel E. |last4=Agwogie |first4=Martin Osayande |last5=Salazar Silva |first5=Fernando |title=The global movement towards a public health approach to substance use disorders |journal=Annals of Medicine |date=31 December 2022 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=1797–1808 |doi=10.1080/07853890.2022.2079150|doi-access=free |pmid=35792721 |pmc=9262358 }}</ref>

Although drug prohibition is often portrayed by proponents as a measure to improve [[public health]], evidence is lacking. In 2016, the [[Johns Hopkins–Lancet Commission]] concluded that the "harms of prohibition far outweigh the benefits", citing increased risk of [[overdoses]] and [[HIV infection]] and detrimental effects on the [[social determinants of health]].<ref name=Csete>{{cite journal |last1=Csete |first1=Joanne |last2=Kamarulzaman |first2=Adeeba |last3=Kazatchkine |first3=Michel |last4=Altice |first4=Frederick |last5=Balicki |first5=Marek |last6=Buxton |first6=Julia |last7=Cepeda |first7=Javier |last8=Comfort |first8=Megan |last9=Goosby |first9=Eric |last10=Goulão |first10=João |last11=Hart |first11=Carl |last12=Horton |first12=Richard |last13=Kerr |first13=Thomas |last14=Lajous |first14=Alejandro Madrazo |last15=Lewis |first15=Stephen |last16=Martin |first16=Natasha |last17=Mejía |first17=Daniel |last18=Mathiesson |first18=David |last19=Obot |first19=Isidore |last20=Ogunrombi |first20=Adeolu |last21=Sherman |first21=Susan |last22=Stone |first22=Jack |last23=Vallath |first23=Nandini |last24=Vickerman |first24=Peter |last25=Zábranský |first25=Tomáš |last26=Beyrer |first26=Chris |title=Public Health and International Drug Policy |journal=Lancet |date=2 April 2016 |volume=387 |issue=10026 |pages=1427–1480 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00619-X |issn=0140-6736|display-authors=2|doi-access=free |pmid=27021149 |pmc=5042332 }}</ref> Some proponents argue that drug prohibition's effect on suppressing usage rates (although the magnitude of this effect is unknown) outweighs the negative effects of prohibition.<ref name=Csete/>

Alternative approaches to prohibition include [[drug legalization]], [[drug decriminalization]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scheim |first1=Ayden I. |last2=Maghsoudi |first2=Nazlee |last3=Marshall |first3=Zack |last4=Churchill |first4=Siobhan |last5=Ziegler |first5=Carolyn |last6=Werb |first6=Dan |title=Impact evaluations of drug decriminalisation and legal regulation on drug use, health and social harms: a systematic review |journal=BMJ Open |date=1 September 2020 |volume=10 |issue=9 |pages=e035148 |doi=10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035148 |language=en |issn=2044-6055|doi-access=free |pmid=32958480 |pmc=7507857 }}</ref> and [[government monopoly]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Room |first1=Robin |last2=Cisneros Örnberg |first2=Jenny |title=Government monopoly as an instrument for public health and welfare: Lessons for cannabis from experience with alcohol monopolies |journal=International Journal of Drug Policy |date=December 2019 |volume=74 |pages=223–228 |doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.10.008|pmid=31698164 |s2cid=207934973 }}</ref>