When drugs are legal, private and public mechanisms for quality control (reputation, tort liability) limit the risk of accidental overdoses

See Marijuana versus Fentanyl by Jeffrey Miron and J. Glazer.

"The Trump administration recently initiated rulemaking to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. Drugs in Schedule I are deemed to have no accepted medical purpose and high potential for abuse, while those in Schedule III (e.g., ketamine, anabolic steroids) are categorized as having “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”

Opinions vary as to whether this rescheduling will have a major impact on the marijuana market, since Schedule III still gives the federal government considerable control. But the change unquestionably weakens federal marijuana prohibition.

A further question is why federal policy treats marijuana so differently than opioids like fentanyl. Conventional wisdom assumes that opioids are more dangerous than MJ and that stricter government control is desirable for more dangerous substances.

In fact, the right approach for all drugs is the same: legalization. The history of marijuana versus opioid policy supports this view.

Since the 1970s, U.S. marijuana policy has moved away from strict prohibition, starting with state-level decriminalization, medicalization, and legalization, followed now by partial federal relaxation. Despite debate over the effects of marijuana on psychological health, the evidence does not suggest that rescheduling would result in material increases in violence or other social harm. By contrast, policy toward fentanyl and other opioids has moved toward more aggressive prohibition and enforcement over the past several decades. During that period, opiate overdose deaths have soared.

This contrast highlights a core libertarian point. When drugs are legal, private and public mechanisms for quality control (reputation, tort liability) limit the risk of accidental overdoses. Under prohibition, these mechanisms do not operate, so quality control (e.g., accurate potency labels) declines. Similarly, under legalization, market participants resolve disagreements with non-violent mechanisms like courts and arbitration; under prohibition, they resort to violence.

The lesson from marijuana is therefore not that drugs are harmless but that criminal enforcement makes their harms worse. If policymakers are serious about reducing drug-related deaths and violence, the divergence between marijuana and opioid policy should give them pause."

The Middle Class Is Shrinking Because of a Booming Upper-Middle Class

By Stephen J. Rose & Scott Winship of AEI.

"Abstract

Populists on both the political left and right routinely claim that the middle class has been hollowed out. These claims, to the extent they are based on evidence, rely on a relative definition of the middle class, such that if income doubles for every family, the middle class does not grow. Using an absolute definition of the middle class, we find that the “core” middle class has shrunk, but only because more families have become upper-middle class over time. The upper-middle class boomed from 10 percent of families in 1979 to 31 percent in 2024, and its share of income doubled. The share of families whose income left them short of the core middle class fell from 54 percent to 35 percent. Claims of a hollowed-out middle class wrongly reinterpret widespread (if unequal) gains across the income distribution as rising insecurity and declining living standards."

On every continent, food supplies have grown faster than the population

By Pablo Rosado & Max Roser. 

"We just lived through the period with the fastest population growth in human history. Six decades ago, there were three billion people on our planet. Since 2022, there have been more than eight billion people — an increase of five billion over this period.

It would have been impressive if food supplies had merely kept pace with population growth. But as the chart above shows, they grew even faster. On every continent, food supplies — measured by calories — grew faster than the population. This rise in food production per person was a major reason for the decline of extreme poverty and hunger.

To us, this chart documents one of humanity’s most extraordinary achievements."

 

 

ObamaCare Is a Money Pit for Taxpayers

A new study shows extending subsidies would be reckless

By Ge Bai and Elizabeth Plummer. Ms. Bai is a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Plummer is a professor of accounting and medical education at Texas Christian University. Excerpts:

"In 2024 they paid nearly 80% of the premiums for subsidized plans—compared with only 30% in 2014."

"Taxpayers paid more than $114 billion directly to insurers in 2024—one-third more after inflation than in 2023, more than double the amount in 2020 (before the enhanced subsidies), and more than six times as much as in 2014."

"ObamaCare banned affordable insurance options and destroyed independent physician practices, damaging the insurance and provider markets. Consolidation, administrative bloat, high prices and soaring premiums followed."

"the correlation between premium growth and subsidy growth is nearly perfect."

"Subsidies are calculated so that the premiums paid by subsidy-eligible enrollees for benchmark plans fall within a set percentage of their income"

"In 2021 Congress expanded subsidy eligibility to higher-income households and lowered income caps for others"

"In 2024, 90% of subsidy-eligible enrollees had access to plans with net premiums of $10 a month or less."

"23 of 24 fictitious applications were approved for premium subsidies, and 18 were still covered a year later."

"the market size for unsubsidized ObamaCare plans shrank by a quarter, from $23 billion in 2014 to $17 billion in 2024."

Another Trump Tariff Retreat

This time it’s a delay for a year on higher taxes on upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"His planned 30% to 50% levies will now be delayed a year, maintaining a still damaging 25% border tax."

"Prices for living-room furnishings rose 4.6% in November from a year earlier"

"The retreat is another in a string of policy reversals to mute the tariff harm to American consumers."

"You’d think the tariff cheerleaders would be embarrassed by these walkbacks, but they ignore them as they promise that the tariff golden age will soon arrive."

Gavin Newsom Has a Wealth Tax Dilemma

The left is pushing a referendum that will force him to choose as he runs for President

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"The tax would be assessed on the shares in public companies at their market value as of Dec. 31, 2026. If share prices later decline, tough. Billionaires would have to pay tax on the “fair market value” of illiquid and intangible assets—e.g., private equity stakes, patents, artwork—based on a certified appraisal.

The only asset exceptions would be real estate, pensions and retirement accounts. Billionaires would likely have to liquidate stock holdings—and pay 13.3% state income tax on their capital gains—or borrow against assets to pay the wealth tax."

"The top 1% pay half of the state’s income tax." 

Mississippi’s Capitalist Awakening

An Englishman moves to Jackson to become the leader of a free-market think tank

By William McGurn. Excerpts:

"In 2024, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state registered 4.2% growth in real gross domestic product—making it the second-fastest-growing state in the U.S."

"some of the ingredients for Mississippi’s growth these past five years: a huge income-tax cut, with a 4% flat tax going into effect in 2026; deregulation that opens up occupational licensing to competition; a government that spends within its means, yielding budget surpluses; and low-cost energy, mainly a result of avoiding the renewable energy subsidies so popular in blue states."