Reply #5: Drug prohibition laws create crime by their very existence.

[bemildred]

That is sort of what they do, they make things that were not illegal against the law. Prohibited drugs were all pretty much medicine - some for thousands of years like hemp and opiates - until the government declared them to be illegal, and they still are medicine. Just because something is subject to abuse, that doesn't necessarily mean it ought to be expensive or illegal for everyone. Drug abuse is a medical problem, a mental health problem, but it ought not be a legal problem. The criminal justice system is not a good solution to social problems, and it subverts the criminal justice system to use it to avoid dealing with social problems in more appropriate ways. It is very expensive to throw people into jail, such measures ought to be reserved for situations where the harm is great, and one ought not do great harm by making something a crime.