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Most folks beleive keeping drugs illegal doesn’t stop anybody from getting them, but also believe that far more people would use them if legalized.

Here's an angle most drug warriors probably haven't thought of: maybe a huge part of the reason that addicts are such a problem is BECAUSE the drugs are illegal. An alcoholic can buy his booze out in the open. and drink out in the open, and be drunk out in the open (at parties and whatnot without the same stigma as being whacked on coke). Therefore it would be much easier to identify the alcoholic's problem, and, perhaps more importantly, it would be easier for the alcoholic to admit to having a problem.

With illegal drugs, however, the user already has to do the drugs in secret, or only among certain people, and may feel afraid to admit he has a problem and ask for help because he'll have the stigma of an illegal drug user (aka scum of the earth, dope-head, criminal, etc.). So the drug user either tries to overcome the addiction on his own, or lets himself be swallowed by the addiction, because the illegality of it forces him into the underground.

Most folks beleive keeping drugs illegal doesn’t stop anybody from getting them, but also believe that far more people would use them if legalized.

And that's a belief I can understand. I'm not sure it's true, but it might be. Though, from anecdotes told me by older relatives over the years, it doesn't sound like drinking really declined during Prohibition. It just went underground.

Most folks beleive keeping drugs illegal doesn’t stop anybody from getting them, but also believe that far more people would use them if legalized.

I think employment-based drug testing has lowered recreational drug use far more effectively than the law ever has. Even if drugs were legalized, I doubt many companies would alter their drug testing policies. Heck, more and more companies are testing for nicotine and tobacco is perfectly legal.

And medical marijuana? Good luck with that. Some California defense contractors learned this lesson the hard way when they bypassed their corporate health care providers to get medical marijuana prescriptions from a private physician. They were fired when they popped on a drug test.

Most folks beleive keeping drugs illegal doesn’t stop anybody from getting them, but also believe that far more people would use them if legalized.
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They believe that nonsense because the prohibitionists tell them that.

My father was a senior in high school when alcohol prohibition ended. He and his friends were disappointed on December 5, 1933 when they could no longer buy beer or booze.

He said prior to repeal, he and his friends could buy all the alcohol they could afford, any time they wanted, because the bootleggers were going to be arrested if caught selling to them or an adult, so they sold to anyone with the money. Once it was legal no one wanted to risk his business selling to kids.

He and his friends had less money because the depression was in full bloom and the price of alcohol went up after repeal. On the rare occasion they could get some the price limited how much they could buy.

He and his friends felt like they got shafted by repeal. But so did many adults who lacked the income to pay the higher prices.