But Without Organized Crime “Government” What Would We do About Physical Protection, Policing & Crime?

How “Government” Ruins It

Legislating and Enforcing Prohibition and Victimless Crimes

The “Government” and its monopoly police inevitably make the problem of crime worse by trying to legislate morality and enforce prohibitions on peaceful people. Crime, by definition, has a perpetrator and a victim. If there isn’t a victim, then there isn’t a crime. When “Government” prohibits something that people desire, that doesn’t get rid of alcohol, drugs, gambling or prostitution, it immediately creates a black market that is run by criminals that can now earn above-market profits that create a myriad of unintended consequences that aren’t the fault of the “drugs” or “gambling” but of prohibition.

Overdoses – Illegality forces both addicts and recreational users to roll-the-dice with potentially adulterated substances since they can’t buy pure drugs of a measured and certified potency.

• Violence and Crime – Prohibition raises the cost of addictive drugs astronomically vs the free market, leading many addicts to turn to crime to finance their habit, AND because drugs are illegal, it attracts organized crime (vs. the local drug store) that settles their disputes with violence, leaving the population in the crossfire. Currently, the monopoly police engage in around $5 billion a year in asset forfeiture, where they are seizing vehicles, cash, property and real estate in the name of the war on drugs, frequently without charges being filed.

• Creating Addicts – Perversely, the drug war actually creates a financial incentive for drug dealers to spend their own money to create addicts! If a drug dealer can give a teenager free drugs until they are hooked, then chances are that drug dealer is the only one the kid knows, so the drug dealer has a captured customer. Compare that with legally addictive alcohol, where no similar financial incentive exists because it can be readily purchased anywhere.

• Creating Criminals – By arresting overwhelmingly peaceful people for non-violent, victimless “crimes” and sentencing them to horrific prisons, they are simultaneously reducing the prospects that a person will be able to find gainful employment while incarcerating them with real criminals and gangs.

Civil Asset Forfeiture – One of the ugliest, stone-cold truths of monopoly policing is that the police now steal more each year through civil asset forfeiture than all private criminals combined. Civil asset forfeiture allows police, federal, state and local, to seize – and then keep or sell – any property they allege is involved in a crime. Owners need not ever be arrested or convicted of a crime for their cash, cars, or even real estate to be stolen permanently by the government, and the Institute for Justice² estimates it cost $3000 to fight each case with no guarantee of winning. The ugly truth is that federal law enforcement and the government’s monopoly police frequently steal more each year than all private criminals combined.