Drugs: A moral decision, a matter of choice, or a national health risk?

[Dystopia]

How many days have gone by since the last cigarette related drive by shooting?

That basically never happens, so?

The substances are different sure, but not in any way important to my position. Heroin is a processed agricultural commodity. So is whiskey, so are cigarettes.

But it is relevant to mine. I don't care much about the origin, as long as it's reliable

You think that smokes or alcohol can't "ruin your life easily if you're not careful". The medical establishment might have a word or two to say against that notion. But so what if we did tax the shit out of it and skyrocket the price (over what, btw...I bet it costs less to grow poppies in afghanistan than it does to grow corn or tobacco in the states - in fact...I'm sure of it. If they were taxed at similar rates the H would likely be cheaper than my Reds). Seen any seizure med shootings? I haven't, and that shit -is expensive-.

For sure, but alcohol won't get you hooked on your second or third glass of beer (and I know a former heroin addict to speak about this, anything more than one shot to the vein is enough to get you into it), it can be consumed moderately, and that's what most people do - Cigarettes won't kill you as quickly and painfully as heroin, and they won't give you the same horrid withdrawal symptoms, it's apples and oranges

And you'll find that a nice bottle of wine is something you;'re just gonna have to pay out the ass for as well. Vino based drive-bys?

No, but there's cheaper alcohol out there, a glass of beer would satisfy the addict, or a glass of cheap whine, instead of buying a top notch bottle of wine - I don't think they'd do the same with heroin - In fact it would probably be state regulated, and heavily.

It;s more difficult to smuggle H - and the penalties are often more severe. That said, I bet it's alot cheaper where you are - being closer to the major sources of supply. I can get -incredible- bud from a kid 20 miles from me growing on his windowsill - it's gonna be cheaper, of course - but if he had poppies growing there instead.....

From my inferior knowledge, I can say 30€ is the price for a little of cocaine or heroin, enough for maybe one strong shot, but I dunno, if you're getting top quality drugs, then probably you'll pay more, different dealers make different prices, you'll find some selling cheap weed full of chemicals and others who cultivate it in backyards and sell it straight away, at a higher price.

You keep prices low on a product that any competitor can resell for a very simple reason - so that your customer buys it from you, and not the other guy.

This would probably not be an option, but a state imposition. If the state decides that the cigarettes tax is going to be higher, that means sellers have to raise the price to keep their share, that's what happens - If cigs are already taxed so heavily, I don't want to imagine the case of heroin, any tax applied to hazardous products would be in, and heavily...

Look, anything that's worth money is going to be worth smuggling - to someone. Bootleg cds, knockoff jeans, whatever. The issue is that only when we have this particular confluence of value and prohibitionism does that translate into mexican cartels outgunning their governments. Of kids in the streets with Glocks protecting a market that we've -helped them- to corner.

I'm not a fan of prohibitionism, but I've grown to accept the fact complete liberty is unachievable for the sake of security and human dignity.