Date of Graduation

5-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Economics

Advisor/Mentor

Hao, Li

Committee Member/Reader

Cawthon, Michael

Abstract

This paper focuses on how alcohol prohibition affects the drug seeking behaviors of citizens in dry counties. Dry counties are counties that do not permit the production or sale of alcohol and are typically found in Southern states only. This paper analyzes the relationship between dry county laws and three different drug incident measures in order to get a better picture of the unintended consequences of modern alcohol prohibition in the states of Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky. To estimate drug related events I used the seizure of production sites used to make methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs, as reported by the Drug Enforcement Administration as well as measurements for possession of marijuana and possession of crack/cocaine according to the Uniform Crime Statistics for each state. The results of the analyses offer some interesting insights into drug seeking behavior in relation to alcohol prohibition. It finds that the seizure of production sites used to make methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs is significantly higher in dry counties than in wet counties in all states used in the analysis. This variable represents the relationship of drug supply with alcohol supply and finds that the two are substitutes. For the demand of drugs, the relationship was the opposite for both substances used in the analysis: crack/cocaine and marijuana. This suggests that these non-synthetic drugs have a complementary relationship with alcohol permissive laws for consumers.

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