ABSTRACT
The conventional approach for reducing externalities is based on the hypothesis that repression increases the price paid by the consumer for drugs and is thus a motivation to reduce consumption. Action aimed at demand constitutes the key to all anti-drug policies having a reduction in consumption as their objective, but effectiveness depends crucially on the degree of elasticity of demand of drug consumers: that is, on the consumer reaction to price. We will see that not only the particularities of pricedemand elasticity can intervene and thwart the expected effectiveness of the repressive policy, but also that the organizational methods of drug supply can also play a negative role in reduction of consumption policy. Briefly, from the supply side and the demand side, there are valid reasons to think that an increase in repression does not necessarily engender a decrease in consumption.
