I’ve never been a drug addict, or worked as a policeman but here are 10 arguments which make a lot of sense to me. NB I am not advocating any kind of drug taking.
1. If all drugs were legal, drugs would lose their glam image. They would perhaps be associated more with hospitals, doctors and rehab clinics than hip cool rebellion, cult movies & discoteques etc…
2. They would (presumably) be a lot cheaper so people wouldn’t have to steal to get them.
3. They would be regulated so that the large number of deaths from dodgy fixes would be reduced a lot. I believe that the majority of drug deaths come from this cause.
4. The economy would benefit because drug money would flow through legitimate revenue channels.
5. Drug dealers would not be demonised so they wouldn’t be part of an underworld gangland subculture.
6. People would be more willing to seek help when they were addicted.
7. Look at what the prohibition did for alcoholism in the states.
8. Heroin and most other drugs have been around for centuries but have only been a big problem since they were banned. We all know the story of the origins of coca-cola for example.
9. All the huge amounts of money which get spent on fighting drug related crime could go to other causes.
10. People could talk openly about drugs without fear of being a social outcast. This would probably make them less disposed to becoming part of drug culture, because it wouldn’t be such a black and white thing. It would also foster an open exchange of information which would probably make the real effects of drugs more widely known. Nobody believes a parent who has never seen a spliff in their life or a junkie…