You're not making an argument, just stating a disagreement.

Do you have any doubt that, say, Coca Cola Company could push heroin more effectively than someone on a street corner, if it were legal to do so?

Do you think heroin is more or less commonly used than tabacco or alcohol?

We've already seen from the opioid epidemic that drug companies at least are both willing and able to push massive amounts of an opioid drug on patients if it is even slightly legal to do so. Why do you think it wouldn't be much much worse if it was fully legal?

Note, I am not against decriminalizing heroin and any other drug. I fully agree that the war on drugs is a massive problem. But that doesn't mean that full legalization of hard drugs, especially the most addictive of them, is the same.

No, I have no doubt they would but I never suggested they should be allowed to. I think the sale and quality should be heavily regulated, advertising still banned, and requirements made to be allowed to purchase it. Like age, and who knows, maybe going through some basic harm reduction training.

Certainly not advocating doing anything the way the US does it, in almost any respect. But the pharma thing is fundamentally a different issue. The reason people so easily become addicted to painkillers is because they're initially given for pain by someone they trust, while unbeknownst to them they've actually been given too much, for too long. In other words this is an issue of doctors abusing their authority.

Why don't I think it would get worse? Because of cultural norms. Legalising heroin won't make it cool and socially acceptable to use. People don't actually derive their social values solely from what happens to be legal.

Let me ask you a question. Why isn't everyone an alcoholic or a smoker? Why do they become rarer(in the west) despite those drugs being legal?

(Hint: the reason is cultural).

I think we might actually be overall in agreement, just using different language. I believed that by legalization you meant something similar to how weed was legalized in various places - fully legal with minimal restrictions akin to alcohol or tobacco.

If you're for making it fully legal but heavily regulated, somewhat akin to a prescription drug, then I more or less agree.

I think heroin is available on prescription in the UK?

https://www.jrf.org.uk/prescribing-heroin-what-is-the-eviden....

My elevator-pitch-summary understanding of UK drugs laws is that almost anything can be prescribed by a doctor, but almost everything is illegal unless a doctor does so, and there's 3 levels of severity if you have or supply something without that authorisation.