There are functioning alcoholics and there are alcoholics who destroy their lives.
With illegal drugs part of the destruction is not the drugs themselves but the crimes addicts commit to get the drugs, the anxiety they feel about missing the next fix, the time they spend chasing the drug, the criminal record that makes it hard to find employment.
I’ve taken care of people who were addicted to legal drugs - oxycodone and benzodiazepines - who were messed up, unable to function - but I think they suffered from mental illness to begin with, and they weren’t out on the streets making life difficult for other people. They made life difficult for their parents, sure, but mental illness is going to do that anyway.
Yes, mind-altering drugs, even legal, will make some people’s lives much worse, will trigger latent psychoses in some, will cause the deaths of others.
I still think the harm to society, to our country and to our freedom, from the War on Drugs, is worse than the drugs themselves.
With illegal drugs part of the destruction is not the drugs themselves but the crimes addicts commit to get the drugs, the anxiety they feel about missing the next fix, the time they spend chasing the drug, the criminal record that makes it hard to find employment.