An entire country of addicts was nearly created by a Big, i'd say Huge, Business + Government Corporation - Britain's East India Company. These and other addictive substances have existed through the history of human species. They become a huge problem only when big money and/or big power gets involved.

>Vicodin (another form of heroin) is legal, yet there is still a black market for it.

that your statement doesn't make sense - Vicodin is legal for prescribed purposes. People having Vicodin prescription don't buy it at black market. Vicodin is illegal for all other situations, and in these situations people go to black market.

If you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal.

I believe in legalization, but this this is false (in the US at least). Pot is a Schedule I prohibited substance, Cocaine is a Schedule II prescription drug, and Vicodin is Schedule III. Each schedule carries with it a large difference in how available and legal a drug is.

"legal" is a spectrum, and vicodin is much more legal than pot or cocaine are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Sched...

You are right that cocaine is more strictly controlled than either of the other substances, but the original point I was making is that you can't use vicodin as an example of a legal substance when it's not freely available.

Right..so why fight for other forms of it then?

Also, it didn't stop people from selling it on the black market (like so many proponents would like you to believe)

Not that I'm arguing for or against just enjoying seeing the opinion of other HN readers.