[SERIOUS] Wouldn’t legalizing drugs solve a lot of problems in the United States? /u/askinglicense No such thing as stupid questions

I genuinely don’t know if this is a “too woke” point of view, but I’ve watched in my own life the negative impacts of drugs, and the laws surrounding them.

I’ve known a lot of chronically ill individuals that couldn’t receive pain medication, and they sought it out elsewhere. A lot of it was fake, because that’s what exists on the streets. I’ve seen those same people be imprisoned and sentenced to ungodly amounts of time in prison, simply for seeking pain relief.

And, honestly… I don’t view the personal enjoyment and/or social aspect as any more or less destructive than that of alcohol and alcoholism.

For the government’s part, they can still punish the private sale of fake drugs. They’d make an insane amount of profit off of taxes alone. It’d create tons of jobs, within pharamceutical companies and I’d imagine it’d open new businesses assuming there’d need to be “dispensaries” as there is for Marijuana. There’d be more money entering the economy instead of there being “black market” money. There’d be less reason for drugs to illegally enter the United States, and in my view would virtually eliminate the cartels from having any desire to enter the country.

Less people committing crimes they wouldn’t otherwise be committing if they weren’t living this “black market” lifestyle and could just… go to the store, for whatever reason they needed.

Rehab facilities and researchers would both have an easier time treating people, without all of the regulatory red tape — which again, just creates more money for the economy.

Obviously people can take shit too far, but… it’s the same with cigarettes. Same with alcohol. Same with food, video games, pornography, gambling. There’s addiction everywhere, but the heavy-handed laws just hurt society and make “recovery” harder to seek if one so chose to do so.

Am I missing something, or is drug use just considered so “taboo” that I’m insane for even thinking this way?

I genuinely don’t know if this is a “too woke” point of view, but I’ve watched in my own life the negative impacts of drugs, and the laws surrounding them.

I’ve known a lot of chronically ill individuals that couldn’t receive pain medication, and they sought it out elsewhere. A lot of it was fake, because that’s what exists on the streets. I’ve seen those same people be imprisoned and sentenced to ungodly amounts of time in prison, simply for seeking pain relief.

And, honestly… I don’t view the personal enjoyment and/or social aspect as any more or less destructive than that of alcohol and alcoholism.

For the government’s part, they can still punish the private sale of fake drugs. They’d make an insane amount of profit off of taxes alone. It’d create tons of jobs, within pharamceutical companies and I’d imagine it’d open new businesses assuming there’d need to be “dispensaries” as there is for Marijuana. There’d be more money entering the economy instead of there being “black market” money. There’d be less reason for drugs to illegally enter the United States, and in my view would virtually eliminate the cartels from having any desire to enter the country.

Less people committing crimes they wouldn’t otherwise be committing if they weren’t living this “black market” lifestyle and could just… go to the store, for whatever reason they needed.

Rehab facilities and researchers would both have an easier time treating people, without all of the regulatory red tape — which again, just creates more money for the economy.

Obviously people can take shit too far, but… it’s the same with cigarettes. Same with alcohol. Same with food, video games, pornography, gambling. There’s addiction everywhere, but the heavy-handed laws just hurt society and make “recovery” harder to seek if one so chose to do so.

Am I missing something, or is drug use just considered so “taboo” that I’m insane for even thinking this way?