Criminalizing street drug use and distribution will probably fail so long as there is strong and inelastic demand — the kind created by addiction. This is why i

Criminalizing street drug use and distribution will probably fail so long as there is strong and inelastic demand — the kind created by addiction. This is why it is important to remove demand by effectively rehabilitating the users, educating those not using, and not facilitating continued use. There is no "safe use" in reality; all use of controlled narcotic substances leads to addiction, and poor health and occupational functioning outcomes. On the supply side, even the death penalty can be priced in when the demand is strong. The narcotics business is one of death, not just due to the criminality and the death penalty in some regions, but also due to no labor protections, prevalent drug use among the producers and distributors, and clashes with law enforcement and rival criminal orgs. This has deterred neither the suppliers nor consumers. When even the probability of death isn't a good deterrent, a probability of imprisonment won't work either. Speaking of death not being a deterrent to lucrative business, the narcotics industry is not an outlier. Industries involving underwater operations like welding, oil rig work, coal mining, logging, high-rise maintenance, stunt performance, mercenary work, experimental aircraft piloting, and similar all exploit death for large profits. It's just capitalism. So a solution to the drugs crisis needs to work within a capitalist world.