Promoting Factors of Variably Legal Markets

This chapter discusses the factors that have promoted the expansion of variably legal markets—that is, those markets that exist between the extremes of wholly legal and wholly criminal markets. It pinpoints three developments that have each facilitated the rise and growth of different types of variably legal markets: (1) the growing regulatory complexity of criminal markets, which is due to the partial decriminalization and legalization of some market activities and, in the case of drug markets, to the growing availability of synthetic substitutes for traditional plant-based drugs that are not fully banned; (2) the rise, and/or expansion, of markets characterized by a peculiarly high level of legal ambiguity, reflecting the spread of new products and/or the lack of consensus on how best to deal with some established or new products; and (3) the expansion of legal markets’ regulation, including the increasing adoption of criminal provisions and sanctions. To illustrate these claims, the chapter analyses three variably legal markets operating in legal grey zones: ‘illegal’ drug markets; the market for performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs); and financial markets. It then turns to a fourth development that spans the full spectrum of market activities—from entirely lawful to outright criminal. This trend consists in the widening gap between ‘law on the books’ and ‘law in practice’, resulting in an increasing tolerance for market activities that are formally restricted or even prohibited. Through these analyses, the chapter demonstrates how legal ambiguity, regulatory complexity, and enforcement gaps collectively sustain and shape variably legal markets. It concludes by emphasizing the dynamic and contingent legal status of these markets, which may evolve towards greater legality or criminalization depending on shifting legal, political, and social contexts.