[truenospinzone]

Would I want an adult who decides to use cocaine to be able to go to a state-licensed pharmacist and buy it at a "competitive price", as opposed to wandering into a neighborhood he's not familiar with and be assaulted/robbed by his dealer, who later that day sells coke to a thirteen year-old and is shot and killed by a rival dealer? Yes.

[Fry]

The fact that people have to wander into neighborhoods they don't know and face the threat of being assaulted/robbed when they choose to break the law helps discourage others from breaking that same law.

My response to you about black markets was that the black markets for tobacco and alcohol are very small because both of those products are cheap (competitively priced) and widely available. Both are more widely abused than any illegal drugs in this country. They are abused because of their addictive nature, their price and their availability. For the most part illegal drugs are abused because of their addictive nature, why would you want to knock down the two remaining barriers?