AP51
We know too little about demand: comments on 'cocaine's fall'
Author
|
Don Weatherburn |
Published
|
May 2015 |
Report Type
|
Affiliated publication |
Subject
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Costs of crime; Drugs and Drug Courts
|
Keywords
|
Cannabis, cocaine, demand, epidemic, expenditure, price, purity, supply |
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Summary
Abstract
Caulkins et al. have performed a remarkable job in difficult circumstances trying to estimate changes in the consumption of and expenditure on cocaine and marijuana in the United States between 2006 and 2010. It would be easy to take issue with the assumptions on which their estimates are based, but I amgoing to assume that any bias in their estimates is relatively constant and that the trends they identify are real. My comments relate to the explanations they canvass for the downward trend in cocaine consumption and expenditure between 2006 and 2010.