You are right, but the metric of total drug use, or first time use, is only a proxy for the goal of reducing drug-related harm to society and individuals. From

You are right, but the metric of total drug use, or first time use, is only a proxy for the goal of reducing drug-related harm to society and individuals. From what I’ve seen it’s not a great proxy. For instance, Sweden implemented an extremely restrictive drug policy focused on scaring people from trying drugs at all, at the expense of existing users who were shunned and penalized harshly. It now has one of the highest overdose mortality rates in Europe and a well-known gang violence problem that’s unprecedented in its history or in any of the otherwise similar countries. I personally think these “clever” policies where you try to optimize for a proxy metric are just moralistic and unscientific garbage. Not to mention the consequences of giving the task (and the funding) to the criminal justice system first. If we transferred the issues of smoking cessation or alcoholism to the police, what would we expect to happen?