Milton Friedman Quote

"Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and also the quality of law enforcement. Can you conceive of any other measure that would accomplish so much to promote law and order?"

by:	Milton Friedman (1912-2006) Nobel Prize-winning economist, economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, "ultimate guru of the free-market system"
Source:	May 1, 1972, Newsweek
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Categories:	Prohibition, Drugs, Legalization, Crime, Law, Police, Peace
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If I was in charge of reducing government spending, the first order of business would be to get rid of the DEA and tha War on Drugs.  -- jim k, Austin, Tx      1
I don't get this. Is there a typo here? The way I read this, he is saying legalizing drugs would reduce the quality of law enforcement. That's not good...  -- Chuck, Hudson Valley, NY
I hope he meant quanity Chuck.  -- cal, lewisville, tx
Reducing the quality of law enforcement (despotism, tyranny, violent enslavement, etc.) would be a good thing. Individual sovereigns expressing inalienable rights, being responsible (individually and in concert - a more perfect union), would drastically reduce policing agencies and replace the statist theocracy that infests this land with a constitutionally representative republic at law.  -- Mike, Norwalk      2
Amen! We miss you Milton.  -- Bruski, Naples FL
"...would reduce the quality of law enforcement." ???  -- Bobble, No. Ferrisburgh, VT
He meant "quality". Law enforcement quality is reduced due to some officers taking bribes to look the other way.  -- Jim k, Austin
If the quote is from a voice interview then maybe it's just poor sentence structure. But an interesting 'mistake' -- "reduce the quality of law enforcement" Indeed! What an Orwellian phrase 'law enforcement.' There is no such thing in a republican form of government. Who has to enforce gravity? What they really mean is 'rules enforcement' and the only rules that can be dictated are for the commercial law jurisdiction, not the common law. Most of the 'rules' do not apply to the common people. AND they make up new rules all the time, even without the authority to do so -- if they have the printing press, they can print up whatever they want. It is left to the JURIES to not enforce a bad rule.  -- E Archer, NYC
-- Ronw13, Yachats Or
Bravo!  -- Robert, Somewhere in Europe
-- Mike, Norwalk
Should read ----- "Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and also RAISE the quality of law enforcement."  -- Martin Foster, Lyttelton

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