[HeyZuess]

> On one hand, HN in general advocates for legalization of all drug usage, one argument being that if they were legal they would be very high purity and free of contamination (deliberate or accidental).

> On another hand, HN demands extreme punishment against a pharma company which produced opioids.

I am not a fan of legalization, I am a fan of decriminalization. But I think the problem here for many is that this was not a legalized drug trade, this was manipulation of the health care system for profit.

Any legalized drug industry would also have a legal framework and those breaking that framework would/should be punished for it. Purdue mislead patients, doctors, and paid illegal kickbacks, failed to act in good faith to limit the illegal supply of their drugs etc etc.

This wasn't like some guy buying weed to get high, many of the victims were regular people who took this medicine on the advice of their doctors.