In reply to <a href="https://www.palisadeshudson.com/2020/11/oregons-drug-law-is-a-start/#comment-208744">John Laburda</a>. John, as the article's headline stated, it's "a start." There are some provocative studies that bring forth evidence that drug addiction is only partly a chemical dependency. The larger concern in drug addiction is actually social condition. In these studies, folks (and animals in many cases) who are socially isolated are more likely to form addictions. Current law makes it so if a parent has a drug-addicted child (minor, or otherwise), if the parents find out the child is in possession of drugs in their household the parents are also liable for those drugs and they could get in just as much trouble as the user. This forces many parents to boot their drug-addicted children into the street, thus socially isolating them. We end up with laws and social constructs that create more addicts as a result. As a matter of real-world comparison, I would advise you look to Spain. Spain was one of the most drug-laden countries in Europe. As Spain changed its laws and overall approach to become socially inclusive of addicts and provide support to them, they've all but solved the opioid crisis in their own country. This doesn't even touch the ability to decimate the Mexican/Columbian drug cartels with out even firing a single shot. As it stands right now, drugs trafficked from Central America, or home brewed in disgusting labs suffer from quality (unintentional, and fraudulent) issues that introduce toxins into people and can scar people worse than the drug itself. Let's not forget about the violent nature of the black market. Were drugs fully legalized, their manufacture and distribution would fall under the purview of the FDA. Even drug addicts would prefer to buy competitive, regulated drugs, because criminals are...criminals. Drug violence would be reduced by several orders of magnitude overnight. Additionally, legal drugs are a tax stream. Those taxes would be able to be used to fund self-sustaining addiction prevention and recovery programs, very similar to how the Surgeon General has funded PSAs against tobacco use, which has seen consistent usage reductions for decades. Compare this to the tax burden you and I carry funding a massive non-violent, victimless prison population. So what do we get? Lower taxes, way less crime, less addicts, and a healthier society. I see zero reason we shouldn't fully legalize drugs.