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by jacquesm 4031 days ago
I can't parse all that you're writing, but to answer those parts that I understand:

Organized crime steps in to supply a market simply because there is a lot of money to be made, that's all that it takes. Making a substance illegal drives up the price. If you made milk illegal tomorrow morning there would be illegal milk available at a substantial mark-up the day after and an underground distribution network would spring up overnight. It's simply economics.

Laundered criminal money is still a problem.

The 'drug problem' would definitely be less if all drugs were legal because it would allow those that are in need of help to apply for that help on a medical basis rather than to have to deal with these issues either on their own or through the justice system if and when they get caught.

The 'law is always right' is a funny one, no, the law isn't always right, it simply defines what is legal and what is not, emphatically NOT what is and isn't right, for that we have morals and ethics, not laws.

For example: slavery was never right, even though it was legal at some point.

2 comments

Legality should follow morality. You argued that it is immoral to prohibit drugs, if that fosters an underground market, because that market is likely violent and otherwise criminal. I say, drug abuse leads to violent or otherwise illegal, or at least immoral behaviour so it's only right to put them users into one bag with hardened criminals. The only market directly fostered by criminalization is the drug market. There are problems like quality control and stigmatization, sure ...