Legalize drugs—don’t try to control them—give them away free—whatever.....About 90% of this crime would cease almost immediately.
I used to be against this solution for the drug problem, but the more I think about it the less opposition I have to it.
Sure the number of addicts would increase, as would the myriad of problems associated with addiction, but at least it would be in a population that chose to use drugs.
At least at that point you would have only one bad guy to worry about, that being the drug user himself. Right now you have all the problems of addiction PLUS the huge costs of all the other things that go along with the war on drugs.
The law of unintended consequences would certainly raise its ugly head, like thousands of law enforcement people who’ve never done anything else but chase drug dealers. OTOH, you would have thousands of law enforcement people available to work on other criminal activities like gangs.