State Intervention + Good Intentions = Organized Crime

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One of the laws of physics is that causality doesn’t implicate correlation which supposedly debunks the Post hoc ergo propter hoc phrase (a Latin term that translates to after this, therefore because of this).

In my studies of the various phenomena that catalyze to the rise of criminality, I’ve noticed that the general causes of organized crime defy the laws of physics!

Governmental regulations and state intervention into the free market, for the purpose of being altruistic and benevolent, just leads to more confusion, more destruction and more impoverishment.

If the public sector wants to be victorious in the War on Drugs for example, then the key is not to ban or regulate the drug business in the first place, because all that does is increase the availability of drugs and the corruption that’s metastasized from it.

We can briefly review the corroborative example of the Prohibition Era which had its inception in 1920 after the ratification of the 18th amendment.

The intention of the United States government was to reduce criminality and fatalities supposedly from the consumption of alcohol.

Was there success in passing this legislation?  No, in actuality the prohibition era just made small time criminals very affluent and extravagant criminals created multi-million dollar alternatives and underground markets distributing alcohol all over the country.

This era gave vitality to Italian, Irish and Jewish mafias, primarily in New York City and Chicago; with the likes of Al Capone, Meyer Lensky, Johnny Torrio, Carlo Gambino and many others.

Additionally, since there was an underground or “clandestine” market to produce alcoholic beverages, one of the most strategic tactics that was utilized was to enhance the addiction and potency of the alcohol which made it efficient and easier for these Prohibition Era gangsters to profit and prosper in the midst of governmental regulations.

This played a catalytic effect in death rates due to alcohol poisoning!

According to Thomas Coffey (by way of the Cato Institute’s article entitled “Alcohol Prohibition was a Failure”), “In 1925 the national death toll was 4,154 as compared to 1,064 in 1920.”

It is ironic to note that the average person dying from alcohol had fallen between 1916-1923; there was an era where alcohol related deaths were actually on the decline prior to the Prohibition Era.

The repealing of the 18th Amendment proved that prohibition was disastrous and disrupted the homeostasis of this country’s health through the aforementioned examples. One could even analyze the passing of the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 along with the eventual prohibition laws like the Volstead Act which enforced the 18th Amendment.

This legislation was passed to regulate the usage of diacetylmorphine or heroine, when in actuality, prior to the passing of this act, there were only 4,000 federal convicts in the United States but consequently, by 1932, there had been a 561% increase in federal convicts in this country.

We can all agree that contemporaneously, drug utilization is at an all time high and that the War on Drugs is a general disaster.  The numbers are so staggering that if the global drug industry were a nation, then it would be one of the top 20 economies in the world, worth more than $320 billion!

Governments globally have worked to regulate drugs but are lacking success in doing so.

Marijuana is arguably the drug of choice of the United States (and even globally), but the enforcement of regulations has been so disastrous that drug liberalization laws are starting to take effect.

Throughout the United States, from the inner cities to the bucolic areas, a lot people became impoverished due to entry barriers.

Licensing expenditures for various industries and numerous regulations alleviate or hinder opportunities for people to potentially make money legitimately.  This unfortunately leads to people resorting to the underworld for survival and profitability at the expense of the lives of parents, students and workers who become drug addicts, convicts and eventually, for the most part, idle members of society – or even deceased individuals at the expense of our tax dollars.

In closing, I could write an extensive book on this topic but succinctly, state intervention and good intentions lead to organize crime from John Gotti to El Chapo.

The government trying to play the role of God actually gives birth to the multiple drug lords that are either lauded or despised to this day.

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Baruti Libre

Baruti Kafele, who is affectionately known as ‘Baruti Libre’, is an intellectual entrepreneur, social scientist, proud libertarian, and real estate broker who ensures quality and superiority from his enterprises to his scholarship. Baruti Libre is the chief executive of the successful fashion and multimedia firm called LiBRE BRAND-Freedom of Flyness which is a globally-recognized and viable brand based on the ideals of liberty and freedom. Twitter: @BarutiLibre.