Historically, have arrests of street-level dealers had any impact on reducing illegal drug use?
Arrests of street-level dealers have been largely ineffective as part of the long U.S. "war on drugs." "The public safety impact of incapacitating these offenders is essentially nullified because they are rapidly replaced," a Pew Charitable Trust study said.
Over three decades, the number of adults incarcerated for drug offenses grew tenfold, from 50,000 in 1972 to over 500,000 in 2002. Meanwhile, drug use among all ages has continued to stay either relatively the same or moderately increase.
The International Drug Policy Consortium, a group of non-governmental organizations focused on drug policy, identified a “balloon effect”: any intervention suppressing drug activity in one location pushes the activity to another part of the drug market, effectively making no lasting change in supply.
