Although it’s been around for nearly 40 years, the “Iron Law of Prohibition” is as popular as ever. For the uninitiated, the concept holds that “as law enforcement becomes more intense, the potency of prohibited substances increases.” Or, put simply, “the harder the enforcement, the harder the drugs.”

The so-called Iron Law is invoked just about any time there’s a shift in the drug trade, most recently during the U.S. opioid crisis. Although the theory seems compelling, in reality, it is deeply flawed and ignores an even more powerful force — economics.

I’m not the first to call the concept into question. As Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University has noted, “The Iron Law of Prohibition is looking pretty rusted out these days.” Yet, everywhere I look, prohibition continues to be blamed for the increasingly lethal and

© The Hill