Given that the two drugs that are associated with the deaths of more people in the Western world are both legal I would say that legalising does little to reduce the harm caused by drugs.
That said I also disagree with the current approach which is one of the most wasteful and corruptable positions to take. Making drugs legal or illegal has been proven to do little to stem use or abuse. Regardless of the laws people will try to make money out of other people's addictions and those that are addicted will do what they can to feed that addition. This is so with tobacco and alcohol as it is with all additcive drugs.
As Andrew Denton often said "People are the problem."
|