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Comment by cousin_it | Hacker News Reader

That will solve the criminality problem, but not the drug problem. Alcohol is legal and sold in stores, does that solve the problems caused by alcohol? No, alcoholism is very widespread and causes huge suffering. The same thing will happen if drugs get fully legalized: since accessing drugs will be easier and cheaper, more people will use them, addiction will become more widespread and cause huge suffering. Inability to enjoy other things and all that.

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> That will solve the criminality problem, but not the drug problem.

That is exactly right. The drug problem, like the alcohol problem, on the level of personal suffering should be addressed by other means, like support groups, therapy, ban of advertising, ban on selling to minors, etc. It will not stop the drugs, but it will remove the criminality from the production and distribution. Don't you think the tradeoff was worth it for alcohol?

How would you describe the drug problem? I think people tend to talk past each other on this topic. Parent's proposal is that we stop automatically calling drug usage a problem.

The part about dealing with education, etc., are ways of treating the _addiction_ problem. Perhaps that's what you meant?

> huge suffering

Wars cause more suffering than any drug yet here we are still having them in 2024.

Don’t forget about the wars caused by drugs.

Right right, which we can do away with if they get legalized

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