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Breaking the Crystal Methamphetamine Economy: Illegal Drugs, Supply‐side Interventions and Crime Responses
Author(s) -
d'Este Rocco
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/ecca.12351
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , supply side , business , public economics , government (linguistics) , methamphetamine , property crime , economics , criminology , medicine , commerce , psychology , pharmacology , violent crime , psychiatry , linguistics , philosophy
This paper evaluates the effects on crime of supply‐side interventions that restricted access to pseudoephedrine‐based medications in the USA , drastically reducing the domestic production of methamphetamine. I find that these government interventions increased property and violent crime by around 3–4%, with criminogenic effects lasting for up to 7 months. Stronger evidence is detected in counties where laboratories producing methamphetamine were previously in operation. My findings suggest that policy interventions that have a limited effect on supply and no impact on the demand for drugs could open up the way to unwarranted crime responses. Timely policy implications are discussed.