[otterley]

> Prohibition is the reason there is a link between addiction and crime. In the absence of prohibition, prices would be as low as ground coffee, and no one would need to commit crime to support their habit.

You don't understand how poor some people really are. And there are values to consider, like quality of life and justice, other than pure economic efficiency. We don't want people to be hopelessly enslaved to drugs and unable to otherwise lead productive, meaningful lives, even if drugs are as cheap as "ground coffee."

Please, I beg you, actually spend some time in the Real World instead of sitting in your comfy room and relying on Google searches in vain attempts to justify your cold academic view of the world.

[CryptoPunk]

No one in the developed world is so poor that they would need to commit crime to pay for drugs, if the drug market was unrestrictedz and could be bought alongside baking soda at the hardware shop. They would die from an overdose long before they spent their entire welfare cheque.

>>We don't want people to be hopelessly enslaved to drugs and unable to otherwise lead productive, meaningful lives, even if drugs are as cheap as "ground coffee."

Of course, and in that case, the person can be segregated from wider society, and committed to a rehabilation center.

>>Please, I beg you, actually spend some time in the Real World instead of sitting in your comfy room and relying on Google searches in vain attempts to justify your cold academic view of the world.

I have plenty of real world experience. The real world consequence of people in the government controlling our private interactions is inefficiency and corruption, that reduces the opportunities, wealth and hope available to marginalized people who are not connected to the insiders who control the levers of power.

[otterley]

> I have plenty of real world experience.

This discussion suggests otherwise.