The people the WoD are SUPPOSEDLY going after include the pushers and the suppliers. Who have a very good reason for doing it: money.
There will *always* be miserable people in the world; some will be miserable for perfectly sane reasons -- broke, etc. -- which might be remedied if you could get them a job. Some will be miserable for reasons not so simply treated. Still, there will always be the miserable (or the stupid thrill-seekers). Right now, some take drugs for that reason. Others drink alcohol for that reason. Why don't we have vast criminal empires built on alcohol?
We did. During Prohibition and the War on Booze.
The War on Drugs is precisely the same thing. The ONLY reason that we have the problems with drug culture that we have today is that the drugs are ILLEGAL. Thus, you need to deal with crooks to get it, you need to be a crook to make it, and the risks make the entire thing ludicrously expensive. Do you think a block of cocaine would be worth thousands upon thousands of dollars if it were legal as booze? Nope. It's a plant product that if it were legal could be produced fast, cheap, and "good" for various values of good. Some other drugs are even easier to make. Instead of five, ten, twenty, a hundred bucks a hit, it'd be something like ten cents a hit. Or maybe even less.
The criminal empires would collapse overnight; who's gonna buy their no-quality-control street crap at 100x value when they can walk into Joe's Euphorium and buy a six-snort of Cocaine-Coca with guaranteed purity? (note that a large number of drug deaths stem from the fact that there IS no quality control, and that even if you are actually getting the drug you think, the purity can vary enough that the amount that gave you a buzz last week could put you in a coma this week.)
The government could regulate and tax it just like tobacco and alcohol, and the same laws applying to alcohol use could apply to various recreational drugs.
Note: this is from the point of view of someone who does not, has not, and will never take such substances, so I certainly have no personal interest in making the crap available legally.
Not really.
There will *always* be miserable people in the world; some will be miserable for perfectly sane reasons -- broke, etc. -- which might be remedied if you could get them a job. Some will be miserable for reasons not so simply treated. Still, there will always be the miserable (or the stupid thrill-seekers). Right now, some take drugs for that reason. Others drink alcohol for that reason. Why don't we have vast criminal empires built on alcohol?
We did. During Prohibition and the War on Booze.
The War on Drugs is precisely the same thing. The ONLY reason that we have the problems with drug culture that we have today is that the drugs are ILLEGAL. Thus, you need to deal with crooks to get it, you need to be a crook to make it, and the risks make the entire thing ludicrously expensive. Do you think a block of cocaine would be worth thousands upon thousands of dollars if it were legal as booze? Nope. It's a plant product that if it were legal could be produced fast, cheap, and "good" for various values of good. Some other drugs are even easier to make. Instead of five, ten, twenty, a hundred bucks a hit, it'd be something like ten cents a hit. Or maybe even less.
The criminal empires would collapse overnight; who's gonna buy their no-quality-control street crap at 100x value when they can walk into Joe's Euphorium and buy a six-snort of Cocaine-Coca with guaranteed purity? (note that a large number of drug deaths stem from the fact that there IS no quality control, and that even if you are actually getting the drug you think, the purity can vary enough that the amount that gave you a buzz last week could put you in a coma this week.)
The government could regulate and tax it just like tobacco and alcohol, and the same laws applying to alcohol use could apply to various recreational drugs.
Note: this is from the point of view of someone who does not, has not, and will never take such substances, so I certainly have no personal interest in making the crap available legally.