Like the War on Some Drugs isn't a real mess now?
The controlled substance laws make illicit drug manufacturing highly lucrative.
The controlled substance laws also empower goverrnment to grant medical monopolies, which is the exact reason we find ourselves in a medical cost crisis today.
I worked for a company that is the only legal manufacturer of bulk codeine, morphine, fentanyl, etc. during the eighties and nineties. During the mid-eighties to early nineties they multiplied their prices by 4 each year, for no reason other than that they are a monopoly.
Guess who paid that X4?
I can't argue drug laws with you. Assume that I believe that drugs are bad and that the current laws should be enforced. However, painful experience has taught me that I'd rather go to Williamburg Brooklyn and argue bible verse with the Hasidim than drug laws with someone seeking descrimnalization.
Let me say this -- I have seen junkies up close. I've seen crack heads at their worst. I've seen folks in the midst of cocaine psychosis. And I've seen meth addicts. And in my opinion, meth addicts are the worst and most dangerous of the lot.