Legalization of drugs and strategic behaviour

ABSTRACT The growing number of users, about 250 million, in 2016, and the sheer number of health problems, that cause 190,000 deaths per year, are just some of the data that has rekindled the debate and discussion into the efficiency of the prohibitionist drug policies concerning drug consumption throughout the world. As a result, there has been the establishment of a special branch of literature focused on the investigation into this theme. In this regard, the present article conducts an economic analysis of scenarios where there is no decriminalization of drugs and other areas where legalization has been partial (marijuana) or complete, based on Game Theory. Thus, different from other studies, this paper establishes conditions of compatibility of incentives so that the economy could become formal, after decriminalization, to avoid contraband under a legal guise. This paper also manages to show which situation (Nash equilibrium) provides the greatest well-being for society.

摘要
2016年全球毒品消费者规模已达约2.5亿，且每年因各类相关健康问题导致19万人死亡，这类数据重新引发了全球范围内针对毒品消费禁令型管制政策有效性的讨论与争议。在此背景下，学界涌现出一批聚焦该议题的专项研究成果。
本文基于博弈论（Game Theory），对未实施毒品非刑事化（decriminalization）、以及部分（如大麻）或完全实现毒品合法化的多种场景开展经济学分析。不同于既有研究，本文构建了激励相容条件，以确保毒品非刑事化后经济体系可实现正规化，规避以合法外衣从事违禁品走私的行为。此外，本文还明确了何种情形下的纳什均衡（Nash equilibrium）能为社会带来最大化福祉。