[rubecube]

Originally Posted by blankall

What studies? When has Heroin ever been made widely available to an entire country?

I was referring more to places like Holland and Portugal, but no, heroin has never been fully legalized.

Several countries in Asia experienced epidemics when meth use was legal. There are several countries in East Africa where law enforcement has broken down, and you're seeing a massive explosion in drug use.

Post hoc fallacies are fun, but they're also very poor arguments.

Using two of the most poverty-stricken and uneducated regions in world as examples is pretty misleading. Can you show me statistics that indicate meth use has gone down in those regions in Asia since it's been criminalized, and that those areas have not seen an increase in affluence or general law & order?

With regards to East Africa, this again can generally be attributed to a lack of order and high levels of poverty, which have a well documented link to increased crime, drug use, and generally destructive behaviour. Both regions lack a a strong, legitimate state presence.

Not criminalizing but decreasing access. The issue here is access to the drug.

Then I'd like you to show me how criminalization as opposed to regulation decreases access. Most research I've seen tends to show the opposite. Anecdotally, I could get my hands on pretty much any drug I wanted to in high school at any time I wanted. Getting my hands on booze was a different story.