"Take the profit out of the equation and the problem will be reduced substantially"
Legalization wouldn't take the profit out of the equation. Drugs are the same as any comodity, price is based on supply and demand. To take the profit out of the equatiuon we need to take the demand out. How do we do that?
A large portion of the profits are from the risk the sellers take in going to jail. Their will be profit but it will plummet. Just like gangs rose up during alcohol prohibition and then dropped off the face of the earth after, so too would be the case with the drug war. The drugs are everywhere and not THAT hard to get. Everyone I know who wants to use, does. Legalizing won't increase consumption will put an end to wasting billions every year on a failed WOD, put liberty back in its place and get rid of gangs and drug pushers in school (ever see the Budweiser man in middle school pushing alcohol? I have with cocaine)
Lets see, ounce of weed $350. Illegal.
Ounce of weed grown in my garden legally, probaly not more than a couple bucks.