Is the current legal situation actually preventing the deleterious societal effects you predict? There is an enormous amount of crime and abuse associated with

Is the current legal situation actually preventing the deleterious societal effects you predict? There is an enormous amount of crime and abuse associated with controlled substances now. If our current strategy was going to work, wouldn't it have done so by now? Addiction does not result from experimentation. That's not how drugs work. Vulnerability to abuse and addiction comes from social, mental, and emotional instability. Furthermore, addiction is not a phenomenon unique to drugs. It's a neurotic state that can twist any activity which is healthy or innocuous in moderation (e.g., shopping, gaming, weightlifting) into an unhealthy obsession. Healthy, secure, and informed people generally don't have any interest in drugs like meth or heroin, even if they have access. Criminalizing the people who have fallen into abuse and addiction isn't addressing any of the root problems. It just perpetuates the broken system.