Don’t make me laugh!
Your argument, for the main part, is very grown up and it tells the story of the more discreet dealers and their ‘types’ of clients, or ‘all them dirty criminals’ as you sarcastically say, but the other toe-rags are a very real problem in our neighbourhoods; and that needs to be sorted out whilst all of the clever people are having their intellectual debate.
People commit crimes when they’re drunk. They become alcoholics even though alcohol is legal. I’m confused as to why legalisation would stop the things that people do under the influence of the substance but maybe I’m missing the point somewhere.
Have to say personally I hate the smell of weed and it makes me feel
sick so I’m not overly keen to have it smoked even more openly and legitimately on the streets. I was in Canada the day it was legalised there and I found the miasma in public places quite unpleasant but obviously I don’t expect anyone who enjoys a puff to agree 
I’m a casual weed smoker and there’s something tragic about smelling it first thing in the morning. Especially when I’m driving. It signals a complete lack of ambition or any kind of get-up-and-go.
I went to stay with some old school friends for a catch up reunion.
One was Head of Department in a school and she spoke a lot about the difficulties of teaching PSHE and dissuading the pupils from trying drugs.
At the end of our meal, she lit up a spliff! And, no, she didn’t see the irony.
I read this earlier, and thought of this thread:
I think Carl may be slightly delusional.
Delusional or not, he’s speaking to his own experience. Anyway, I have nothing to add to the conversation - I just felt the link was relevant.
Fair enough but injecting yourself with heroin and saying it is normal sounds like junkie speak for “I don’t have a habit, I can quit at any time”.
This is worth a watch on BBC Iplayer (it’s from 2017 so slightly out of date now I guess):
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0991fsb/louis-theroux-dark-states-1-heroin-town
America’s love affair with prescription painkillers has led to widespread dependency on opiates. But following a crackdown on their over-prescription, where does this leave the two million Americans who have developed a habit for these high-strength painkillers?
With the pills now becoming increasingly expensive and scarce on the black market, vast numbers of Americans have turned to the cheaper and stronger opiate: heroin. The drug now claims more lives in the US than either car accidents or gun crime. And, for the first time in over two decades, life expectancy in the US is declining - largely attributed to the rise in fatal heroin overdoses.
It’s a sad an eye opening view of how this drug can effect people from all different backgrounds.
I don’t understand any of this enough, but I do believe different drugs (alcohol included) require diffeent approaches, both legally and for medicinal purposes. Some will be viewed as too damaging overall, and others would probably be viewed as having the potential to be legalised both for medicine (or removed from use as above) and recreational use, such as Cannabis as happens in other countries.
Legalisation brings some benefits like some form of quality control, potentially avoiding some tragic incidents, as well as tax revenue, reduced police resources, greater safety for all involved in the purchase and less related crime hopefully. I think the stigma attached to some elements of this, or being seen to support this, will be the largest barrier to some being legalised.
Others, I think, should clearly remained banned. For me however, alcohol has been my only drug as such, so I may have a different take to most!
The balance should really be between what will happen in each situation, and what will give the best outcome generally for people and society, with a level of acceptable risk. quite a few places that can be studied now, which is where this should start, not with people like me just guessing.