Written by Keene, the city I today call home, is a quaint little town near the New Hampshire/Vermont border. Dominated by Democrats, it is perhaps the least free place in all of New Hampshire. While a far cry from the statist hellhole I came from in New York, the people here still wholeheartedly believe in the power of government.
So perhaps I should be less than surprised that Dale Vincent at the Union Leader hailed a recent large drug bust as the “end of a heroin era” as if drug busts actually did anything to prevent the import, sale, and use of drugs. After all, these folks aren’t used to seeing this kind of thing happen. So perhaps I can inform them a little bit about how this works, as I come from a place where large drug busts happen all the time. In my experience, and the experience of most people in the real world, these things do the exact opposite of what is touted by law enforcement, and their propagandists.
Per the story in the Union Leader;
Keene Police Chief Kenneth Meola said he expects the arrests of Gould and members of his ring to reduce property crime in the area, as many thefts are committed to pay for heroin.
It is quite unfortunate that police chiefs are rarely economists. Perhaps if they were compelled to have such an education, Chief Meola would better understand what restrictions on supply do to prices. In any case, one would hope he understood the nature of crime better than to think that an increase in heroin prices was going to reduce crime in his jurisdiction, which I’ll make the case for shortly.