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Comment by jswny | Hacker News Reader

I tend to feel the same way. These types of things are inevitable, you are never going to stop them from happening. However, when debating this point, I have a hard time defending my point when someone else says "so should we just not do anything? Wouldn't that increase the illegal activity? Should we let people buy guns too? Where do you draw the line?" I have to say, I'm not sure what to say about that. If the government did not actively fight this, successful or not, would it cause the markets and illegal drug users to proliferate?

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First off if it were legal how would there be an increase in illegal activity? There probably would be an increase in drug use if that is what you mean.

The government could still fight it, but it would be a health and human services problem at that point. Which means a lot less high stakes do anything to not get caught crime going on. It could be paid for by taxes on the drugs. There would be fewer deaths from drug overdoses because quality and purity could be regulated. Drugs with little to no long term side effects would probably become popular. Drugs that have harsher side effects and highly addictive properties would probably still be stigmatized because of their effects.

The line would get drawn the same place it does for gambling and alcohol. Occasional use by grownups is OK, if it becomes life impacting then rehab and abstinence is probably best for you.

> First off if it were legal how would there be an increase in illegal activity? There probably would be an increase in drug use if that is what you mean.

I think the hypothetical here is that illegal activities could rise in search of money to feed drug addiction. This would come in the form of theft, robbery, etc. It's not as if no one ever stole money to buy food.

I don't know about the premise that there would be more people stealing to feed addiction. Is there a significant problem with people stealing now to feed alcohol addiction?

I'm only saying that a need creates a motive. When I was eighteen and addicted to cigarettes, I scrounged every inch of my apartment for coins to buy a pack. I imagine an addiction to harder drugs would create a greater need. I only pontificated on what I thought the parent might mean. I didn't state a fact.

"If the government did not actively fight this, successful or not, would it cause the markets and illegal drug users to proliferate?"

No. We have decades of experience on this from places like Portugal, The Netherlands, California, Washington State, etc. In fact, the opposite happens. The problem is that no one bothers to ever check facts before making assumptions about what will happen that fly in the face of the evidence, especially when writing laws.

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