Those are piddly compared to just driving deaths from drunk driving...try over 10,000 per year. And that is a low year (2009). Source: http://www.alcoholstats.com/page.aspx?id=136
# Between 2% and 3% of the current American college population will die from alcohol related causes.
# Thirty percent of college failure is alcohol related.
# Drinking and driving is the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 17-24.
# In the U.S., 70 people are killed daily in drunk driving accidents, that is roughly one person killed every 22 minutes.
# 69% of all drownings are alcohol related.
# One in every three suicides involves alcohol.
# The average female college student spends $150.00 per year on alcohol.
# The average male college student spends $300.00 per year on alcohol.
# The average DUI arrest costs the charged person $3000.00.
# Alcohol plays a role in 50% of all arrests.
# 90% of the vandalism that occurs on college campuses is a result of alcohol use.
# 75% to 90% of campus rapes involve alcohol use.
# 75% of men and 50% of women involved in sexual assaults had been drinking prior to the assault.
# The abuse of alcohol is present in 70% of all murders and other violent crimes.
# 54% of alcoholics have an alcoholic parent.
# One out of 3 Americans don’t drink - and that’s okay too.
Source: http://www.radford.edu/~kcastleb/myths.html
The difference in the homicide rate you quoted is miniscule compared to the suffering now from alcohol...not to mention other drugs...NO, it is not because they are illegal...it is because they make people insane.