The U.S. National Drug Control Strategy developed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy has two components: supply reduction and demand reduction. As the term implies, supply reduction refers to efforts to decrease the availability of illegal drugs in the United States. According to the U.S. federal government, the strategy behind supply reduction is to disrupt the market for illegal drugs in order to reduce the profitability of the drug trade and increase the costs of drugs to consumers.

In other words, if there is a reduced quantity of illegal drugs available for purchase, the price will increase and the purity will decrease. This might discourage casual drug users from continuing to purchase illegal drugs and might encourage drug abusers to seek treatment. Over $117 ...