• There simply is not another criminal enterprise offering comparable revenue to the illicit drug trade. The current estimate of Australia’s illegal drug market is around 10.3 billion per year.
• Unparalleled riches from the illicit drug trade have undermined rule-of-law in less stable countries, creating a haven for all forms of criminal enterprise. Though it will not change overnight, there is no better way to challenge the power of organised crime than the legal regulation of drugs.
• Many other criminal enterprises are funded by the illicit drug trade, or operate through the same networks. They will become much harder to maintain.
• Under legal regulation, enforcement efforts can be channelled toward other forms of crime, further hastening the overall decline.
• It does not follow that when the illicit drug trade ends, there will be an alternative revenue stream that covers the loss to organised crime and continues to power the same level of violence and corruption.
• It is not sound policymaking that there is no point eliminating one type of suffering because another will take its place. The prohibition of drugs is fuelling criminality and massive suffering and therefore, it must end.