> I have been closer to drugs/dealers and crime since I was about 12 than a PhD to books. Then in my opinion you have been surrounded (and your views significa

> I have been closer to drugs/dealers and crime since I was about 12 than a PhD to books. Then in my opinion you have been surrounded (and your views significantly influenced) by a vicious cycle which is fueled by prohibition. The entire situation is directly analogous to the US prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th century. It should be incredibly obvious in hindsight how that directly caused harm and failed to solve any problems. > there like cities worth who are just wired for a different ‘normal’ (re crime) ... ok, and? That's what we have law enforcement for. How is that related to chemical substances and addiction? (I don't agree with you by the way but I also don't see how such a claim is relevant to the topic at hand.) > thanks to people smoking oxy, the gentle cool kid from the nicer end of town was stealing cars and punching his mom in the face for cig money I'm arguing that such situations aren't at all simple - there's a lot more going on than just "addiction to a chemical". Importantly, I'm arguing that there's no reason to expect decriminalizing various chemicals to result in more of that. (In fact I'm arguing the exact opposite - that decriminalizing various chemicals would result in much less of that the world over.)