Drug _consumption_ causes "drug related criminality?"
The evidence is quite strong that _prohibition_ causes criminality. Consumption in the absence of prohibition requires no illicit market or cartels.
Are you suggesting that if OxyContin was available without a prescription that we would see less theft, car breakins, vagrancy, indecent exposure, etc?
Yes. Widely available and affordable Oxy would reduce thefts, because junkies wouldn't have to steal so much to afford it
Are you suggesting that OxyContin related addiction isn't itself known to be caused by effective pain medication like marijuana being illegal?
People both get addicted to and commit crimes under the influence of marijuana too. As they also do with alcohol.
It isn't a contest. Both contribute.
I think you might be conflating lower risk drugs with cocaine and pals.
one of the issues with drug prohibition is that it throws the baby out with the bathwater and consigns the man on the street to whatever dealers think will sell the most effectively: i.e. whatever is strongest without killing people or drastically fucking them up.
when drugs are legal people get more choice and - as shown with tobacco - people tend to favour weaker options. if cocaine were legal, people would likely be taking something closer to what you get from chewing the leaves. this could even just be regulated to be the case