Richard is correct.
We should admit to the lessons of alcohol prohibition, that they also apply to everything else that people demand regardless of legal status.
If we were to regulate all recreational drugs in a manner similar to how we treat alcohol, we would devastate organized crime as effectively as happened when prohibition was repealed.
My view is that the natural forms of these drugs should legal, though regulated. So natural opium, cocaine, marijuana and others would be legally sold by licensed dealers who are known and monitored for compliance with the rules just like the corner liquor store. It could even BE the corner liquor store. The producers and distributors would also be regulated just as the various tobacco vendors, breweries and distillers are today.
The highly refined versions of the drugs should continue to be considered pharmaceuticals, available with a physicians order, as they are today.
Doing this would eliminate one of the biggest sources of revenue, if not the largest, that funds organized crime and terrorist organizations. It would also remove a huge source of corruption from our police, court and political systems.
