“The result was a crime wave. Children as young as 7 and 8 years old were breaking into vehicles and residences to steal cash and/or property to fence - all in an effort to get money to purchase pot and hash. There was even one case I personally knew of where a gang of children beat a man to the ground and stole his wallet. Of course the law stated only adults were to possess and use said drugs, but the reality was considerably different than the original intent.”
That sounds really doubtful to me. After all, alcohol is illegal, but where are the gangs of minors going around stealing and robbing people to acquire money to buy alcohol? Oh, that’s right, they can’t buy it because they’re under age. In fact, illegal pot, even though it’s more expensive due to its illegality, is more available to teens than alcohol is. And still no wave of theft by children to buy it.
IMHO, fully legalizing pot would probably result in higher rates of usage, but would reduce the flow of money to the organzied criminals who produce and, more importantly, traffick it. Whether that trade-off is worthwhile is debatable.
Legalization of, even by prescription, say heroin, would presumably greatly reduce the amount of street crime done by junkies to purchase what is really a fairly cheap narcotic to produce, but is very expensive on the street. The legalization of (more) highly addictive mind altering substances, and the subsequent likely increase in use, is highly unpalatable politically and morally, however, regardless of whatever harm reduction arguments might be made in its favor. I can’t see it happening any time soon, but it has been tried in some places (in the U.K., for example). Not sure how that all worked out.
>Legalization of, even by prescription, say heroin, would presumably greatly reduce the amount of street crime done by junkies to purchase what is really a fairly cheap narcotic to produce, but is very expensive on the street.<
By the time big pharma gets done with it, it will likely be more expensive than the illegal stuff!