“Mostly, it DOES keep MOST people from even bothering.”
Again based on what?
It has been illegal for decades. That is as absurd as saying the legal drinking age has kept 18 year olds from consuming alcohol or how about smoking tobacco.
Has it?
Nope.
There are a ton of people here that will tell you they sure did do that.
The only thing its done has kept suppliers from selling directly to them.
No, it’s not absurd. It DOES put a curb on behavior.
I never said it was perfect. But the argument that “just legalize it” is bogus as well as “people still do it”. Why legalize murder? Yet, the fact it’s been illegal for eons doesn’t make it go away - but it SHOULD be illegal, and with good punishment (like the old days, not the namby-pamby now), you bet “illegal” reduces how much it happens.
Based on what? I don’t know. It’s good logic and one can see the results in some places. And I seriously doubt you’ve been collecting massive amounts of “studies” and data yourself to come to any solid conclusion.
I am not a researcher, not for this, so sorry, no data. Only general observation.