Addicts are driven to associate with criminals to get the drugs, become criminals themselves to finance the habit, and risk constant danger of death and disease. Consider next the rest of us. The harm to us from the addiction of others arises almost wholly from the fact that drugs are illegal. It is estimated that addicts commit one third to one half of all street crime in the U.S. Legalize drugs, and street crime would drop dramatically. Moreover, addicts and pushers are not the only ones corrupted.
Immense sums are at stake.
Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law enforcement. In drugs, as in other areas, persuasion and example are likely to be far more effective than the use of force to shape others in our Image.