The most significant crime reduction would take place in the wars amongst dealers, there goes the business that keeps their violence alive. The harm to us from the addiction of others arises primarily from the fact that drugs are illegal. It has been estimated that from one third to one half of all violent and property crime in the United States is committed either by drug addicts engaged in crime to finance their habit, or by conflicts among competing groups of drug pushers, or in the course of the importation and distribution of illegal drugs. Legalize drugs, and street crime would drop dramatically and immediately. Moreover, addicts and pushers are not the only ones corrupted.
Immense sums are at stake.
If recreational drugs were patentable in a post-legalization world, a new are of innovation would open in which chemists could experiment without fear of criminal sanction. The likely chain of events following legalization, is clear first, each pharmaceutical company would rush to market its own brand-name versions of the newly legalized drugs. Finally, as such drugs were discovered they would be patented, tested, and marketed, finding their way into the mouths, noses, and veins of consumers everywhere. The deconstruction of the forbidden fruit will cause a drastic decrease in the use of drugs. Illegality stimulates curiosity and desire, especially among persons who regard themselves as unconventional and rebellious.