I /think/ the argument for legalisation lowering heroin use is that if it were legal, certain unscrupulous people would not be pushing it on fragile members of society, and getting them hooked for financial gain.
Replace "heroin" with "cigarettes" and you have a one-sentence description of tobacco companies. Legalizing it won't get rid of pushing, so long as pushing is financially beneficial for the pusher.
Yes - if cigarettes were available on prescription, it would massively harm the abilities of cigarette companies to market and advertise (since profits would be hit rather hard!) which in turn would cut out a whole new tranche of smokers.
Re:Alcohol 'more harmful than heroin'
by JoachimSchipper on Monday November 01, 2010 @09:56AM
(#1856431)
Come on, making heroin "as legal as" tobacco is a straw man. Even the Netherlands, well-known for their liberal drug policy, have rather severe restrictions even on marijuana use.
Re:Alcohol 'more harmful than heroin'
by steveklabnik on Monday November 01, 2010 @09:48AM
(#1856401)
Not just that, but the teenage rebellion factor goes way down with legalization.
I know quite a few people that stopped drinking so hard once they turned 21...
This is what has happened (to some extent) in Portugal: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.ht...