I somehow feel that maybe the pharmaceutical marketing machine, which has successfully turned drugs into name brands that are recognized by kids, might have something to do with the problem. But what do I know?
https://www.pastemagazine.com/drink/alcohol-history/prohibit...
"Suffice to say, the public didn’t take too kindly to that kind of “it’s their own damn fault they’re dead” reasoning, and it fanned the flames of the growing movement to repeal Prohibition. "
You should probably restrict it to people over the age of 18 like cigarettes
if the market is a government monopoly, you'll likely have fewer problems than if t's run by violent criminals.
Rational people don't want to take street-drugs which they know might kill them because of bad quality. They are seeing a lot of people dying around them so they know.
This is conceptually not that different from methanol-laced alcohol being available during prohibition. Of course nobody wants to take methanol if they can take ethanol instead. Ethanol is very bad as well. But harm reduction should be the thing that guides our policy.