Stamp out the black market. There was a period where I regularly had a jar of moonshine in my fridge just because i could. And even though I’m for legalizing all drugs I don’t envision a scenario where heroin plus opens up next the the pot dispensary so of course the users would have to go to the black market.

That being said legalization has the potential to make the drug markets significantly less profitable.

Colorado and the other legal pot states kind of screwed up here. Instead of allowing the dispensaries to sell at market rates and use their scale to squash the small time dealers, they immediately went after the tax revenue. Since it was cheaper on the black market and the current smokers have established supply chains there wasn’t enough incentive to leave the black market. Also being the one legal state surrounded by other illegal states provides cover for those in the black markets.

As for heroin and some of the harder drugs, a lot of the low level dealers chose to sell to support their habits. Allowing them access to safe places to inject and a means to get clean also serves a dual purpose of removing one more dealer from the streets.

IMO we’ve focused far to long in the supply side of the drug markets. Econ 101 shows that if there is a demand, someone will fill it. Shifting resources to treatment and education would do more to limit the public health costs and also make the market smaller and less profitable.
[Post edited by Hoojack at 06/26/2018 5:17PM]