NCJ Number
199063
Editor(s)
Charles F. Manski,
John V. Pepper,
Yonette F. Thomas
Date Published
1999
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This document discusses two studies on the market for cocaine in the United States.
Abstract
The first study developed a model of the market for cocaine. The model was used to assess the cost-effectiveness of four alternative strategies for reducing cocaine consumption: source-country control, interdiction, domestic enforcement, and treatment of heavy users. The results of the study are best thought of as conceptual, offering a coherent way to think about the cocaine problem. A significant effort is documented to formally characterize the interaction of producers and users and the process through which alternative cocaine control policies may affect consumption and prices. An important point of departure is established for the development of richer models of the market for cocaine and for empirical research applying such models to evaluate alternative policies. The study did not yield usable empirical findings on the relative cost-effectiveness of alternative policies in reducing cocaine consumption, or the effectiveness of cocaine treatment programs. These findings do not constitute a persuasive basis for the formation of cocaine control policy. The second study used time-series data on cocaine prices and consumption with a narrative description of contemporaneous interdiction events to assess the cost-effectiveness of interdiction activities in reducing cocaine consumption. The findings provide a useful contribution of time-series evidence on cocaine prices, purity, and use since 1980. The study did not yield useful empirical findings on the cost-effectiveness of interdiction policies to reduce cocaine consumption. Scrutinizing the specifics of these two studies has helped policymakers to frame the questions that they will address in a broad study of how data and research may, in the future, better serve the objective of informing drug control policy. 5 figures, 1 table, 11 footnotes, appendix, 45 references