Griffin Johnston, 4th period, the power of incentives

            An article on Foxnews.com reports on the newly adopted tactic to shut down meth labs commonly known as “name and shame.” The tactic is executed by the police, who will force the government to list the locations of previously busted meth labs online in order to both shame the drug lords and the property owners allowing the drug lords to make meth on their property. Also, people will be more repulsive towards buying that property, especially since the production of meth badly contaminates the building it is produced in threatening the health of subsequent occupants of that building. The new legislation states that owners have six months to decontaminate their buildings. If the buildings are not cleaned within the six months their property will be put on the online list for all to see. As Sen. Randy Head said, “What we are trying to do is provide an incentive for owners to get their homes cleaned up.” The article also stated that Indiana, where this legislation is being passed, leads the nation in the amount of meth lab busts (in 2013 they had 1,700)

            Head’s statement about providing incentives brings up an interesting correlation. People do not (usually) do things unless there is an incentive for accomplishing the task: people take meth because it supposedly gives the user a high, people make meth because they will get money for selling it, and, in this case, people are decontaminating their homes to avoid both public shame, and the loss of potential buyers of their property. Indiana successfully made an incentive for those property owners to clean their property. However, it seems as though there is not enough incentive to not take, not just meth, but any recreational drugs. People sometimes think that they are immune to becoming addicted; however, most are not immune and, when they do become addicted their lives become ruined, just for artificial happiness. If this incentive was made more clear, people might be more willing to resist the temptation.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/07/states-outing-meth-houses-online/?intcmp=latestnews