After the abolition of prohibition, criminal organizations went into gambling, on such a scale that it became a major problem, especially in the big cities, particularly New York. Again the solution chosen was a far-reaching liberalization of the laws on gambling. After the decriminalization of gambling, criminal organizations turned to narcotics. The criminal market in narcotics developed step by step to today's volume. Still we know that alcohol is a huge social and administrative problem.
Fatalities caused by alcohol for instance are high.
Those caused by traffic are higher. The figures for smoking are even higher still. Nevertheless, smoking and driving have never been regarded as problems to be solved by prohibitive legislation. Based on these insights, it is in my opinion to be expected, almost predictable, that the world will see a trend towards the liberalization of narcotics. This liberalization will lead to a substantial breakdown of criminal organizations.