[gee_totes]

According to this article[0] the street price of a dose of heroin is $10-$25 dollars. However, that street place is suffering 40-50 times inflation[1]. If heroin were relieved of price inflation, a dose would cost between 20 cents and 63 cents.

Compare that to cigarettes. I once heard from a foreign cigarette manufacture that the cost of manufacture for a pack of cigarettes if 50 cents. A pack of cigarettes contains 20 doses of nicotine and costs around 14 dollars (in New York City, American Spirit Brand). Each dose (cigarette) costs 70 cents inflated and took only two cents to produce. Nicotine suffers from a 35 times price inflation due to legalization.

These look like two industries that are ripe for disruption.

[0]http://heroin.net/about/how-much-does-heroin-cost/

[1]http://reason.com/archives/2003/06/01/h/1

[thucydides]

Cigarettes are expensive because of local, state, and federal taxes.

Heroin is expensive to compensate for the high risk of government punishment at each stage of the manufacturing/retail process.

[Synaesthesia]

Not to mention the demand!

[lamby]

You seem to be implying that markup applied above production cost (for any product and for whatever reason) is immoral.

("Inflated" or "inflation" is the wrong term anyway but it makes no difference here)

[chii]

> You seem to be implying that markup applied above production cost (for any product and for whatever reason) is immoral.

its not immoral (for an entity should be allowed to price their product at any price they want to), but i want to believe that a free market _should_ control abnormally high markup, so that all produce will cost only slightly more than it takes to produce it.

[corin_]

Worth noting that your 14 dollars varies widely by location. Here in the UK most brands are between $10 and $11, in Germany it's more like $6, and in countries like China, Egypt, Greece (or indeed on a flight between UK and USA) they can cost $3 or less. Even within America prices vary greatly, for example I think $10 is a pretty typical price in Chicago.

[GuiA]

>These look like two industries that are ripe for disruption.

Please go on— how would one disrupt these industries?

[slurgfest]

By competing with piles of incumbents. Who are already comfortable with illegal, armed action outside the free market...

[tedunangst]

Sell heroin for $1, just like in American Gangster.