Just ask yourself a hypothetical question:
If the enormous profits to be made from selling drugs were removed, who is going to go to the trouble of bringing the stuff into this country, and for what reason?
Take the profit out of the equation and the problem will be reduced substantially.
Am I a druggie? No.
I do not use any illicit drugs OR alcohol.
But I am a rational and intelligent person that is able to see that when something hasn't, doesn't, and WON'T work, it is time to try something else.
The per capita addiction rates for this country have remained essentially unchanged since the eary 1800's.
Education and treatment are the areas where money should be spent.
"The per capita addiction rates for this country have remained essentially unchanged since the eary 1800's."
Availability hasn't seemed to have suffered much either, in this war.
I have also somewhat reluctantly concluded that illegal drugs should be legalized in order to defund gangs, reduce mayhem, and (greatly) reduce our prison population. But I have a question:
If drugs are legalized, doesn't that mean that they will be branded, marketed and sold? Will Merck come out with MadDash brand cocaine? Starball Express methamphetimine? How would the (now legal) user get his stash? If consumption were legal but distribution were illegal, you'd have essentially the situation we have now. If manufacture and distribution were legal too, then capitalist forces would end up promoting drug use. How do you resolve that one?
"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?
Do you think that drug dealers will fold their tents and become upstanding citizens if drugs were legalized? There are always those who claim that most drug dealers are regular folks who just want to make enough to use a little of this or that and are "forced" into being criminals by our archaic drug laws.
Will all drugs be legalized for every age group? Why wouldn't the dealers simply target the still-illegal drugs for the still-underage customers, as many have stated they would do?
Perhaps the displaced drug dealers can open one of the revolving door treatment centers that will spring up, they are fairly lucrative and the customers usually return since the success rate is so low.
In the early 90's in my area, some of the drug profits dipped due to law enforcement crackdowns, so some of the gangs concentrated on robbing banks and stepped up their auto thefts and other property crimes to try and make up the difference. They recruited lots of underage kids to commit these crimes (less consequences, kept the older thugs out of jail). The drug problem is complicated and the criminal culture involved in it won't just go away due to legalization.