The biggest barrier IMO to a legal drug economy, with regulation and legitimate corporate players, is reversing years and years of learned stigma that "drugs are evil". And the incredibly irony here of the "please think of the children" mentality, is that it's reinforcing this feedback loop, and I don't see any way to break out of it.

The government can't legalise drugs because of the massive community backlash there would be. So the continued illegality, of the trade sees it linked to criminal activity on a macro scale (terrorist groups / bikies etc.) as well as at a local level (home invasions / thefts / pharma. raids etc.) not to mention the violence and the risk of overdose that prompts teary eyed parents to come on the news and espouse about the evils of drugs, leading to the (admittedly fairly compelling) conclusion that stamping out drugs would be a good thing. And that, of course, means the government can't legalise drugs because of the massive community backlash there would be...