US Drug Problem - legalization?

President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, said that the Mexican Drug Cartel issue only exists because of the huge drug problem that exists in the US.

I think he is 100% correct.

If there were no demand for illegal drugs, no one would see any need to make huge and violent cartels. Barack goes to mexico to give counsel on how they can reduce violence, but before he even gets there, calderon says, there would be no violence if there were no demand.

Drug problems do not discriminate on the basis of race or socioeconomic conditions. Drug addiction is everyone's problem. I wonder what we can do to more effectively combat this issue...the "Just say no" and "I'm not a chicken, you're a turkey" campaigns had a major impact on me. Too bad that the same can't be said for others in my demographic.

I'm at a loss for ideas (i mean - outside of preaching the gospel to people).

Legalization would probably reduce the violence and increase the purity and consistency of drugs sold (decreased prices would result from cheaper shipping costs which would ultimately decrease any desire to cut the drugs with additives --> purer product). An increase in purity would result in less time and money spent on people that overdose on drugs (whenever i go to downtown baltimore, I always see an ambulance carrying away some person that has either overdosed on heroin or been injured while high).

I'm trying to figure out what society would look like with legalized drugs and i'm having a hard time. I do not think that the stigma that being an addict carries would go away. But similar to the porn industry, i think that the legalized-drug industry would thrive (just with smaller profit margins for everyone involved) in the world of secret vices.

We would probably have to expand our treatment programs - but taxes collected from drug sales could probably cover that...

What about the moral dilemma that we arrive at when we think about the fact that people/the government would be profiting from substances that ruin people's lives? (keep in mind that all drugs do not wreak havoc in people's lives in the same way)

What will be the REAL cost of new books for inner-city schools? (you would assume that drugs dollars would also go to education - just like the lottery).

There would still be such a thing as a "controlled substance" (we can't just have people walking around and prescribing abilify to themselves), but i don't think that we would be able to prosecute violations of law against possession of controlled substances as heavily as we do now...

What do you think?