And don't say it's because more people die from alcohol related accidents/complications because that is laughable.
That is merely a product of the sheer number of people who use/abuse alcohol as opposed to the number of people who use/abuse narcotics.
Who do you think will have more health complications? Someone who drinks every night or someone who smokes crack every night? If the number of people who did heavy drug regularly approached the number of people who drink regularly in this country, we'd have a HUGE problem.
I'd say there is an equal chance that either abuser will injure or kill himself or others on any given night. The idea that one leads a better life than the other is purely subjective. And their health complications are none of my business or the gov't's business - I don't believe in socialized medicine.
The neighbor kid killed himself huffing PAM. Perhaps it, too, should be a controlled substance. Or maybe he should be arrested & imprisoned, had he survived. Problem solved, right? No, the "problem" will never be solved, because the solution - prohibition - doesn't work, & because if effective solutions were actually implemented, a lot of bureaucrats would be out of a job. The drug war is about power & control, not about what is best for America.