Marijuana is a relatively safe drug to legalize. Not physically addictive, no real harmful OD potential, etc. A good test case.
For the rest, there has been some "experiments" that provide perhaps some data on what would happen if legalized:
A) Oxycodone was a professionally manufactured, predictable dose pill. The way it was distributed in abuse mode was "not very legal" (abuse of the prescription / controlled substance system). But it still caused huge amounts of problems. In fact, in some areas, you could say it was more of a problem than illegal compounds at one point. Uncontrolled legalization would only invite more shady players into this game; I would say any legalization with opioids needs strong caution.
(Interestingly enough, Adderall, effectively prescription amphetamine, has had a similar "grey market prescription abuse" thing akin to oxycodone. There doesn't seem to be nearly that much news on that compound (other than the occasional news article on it being a "study drug"). First impression is that you could be much looser with that compound compared to opioids...)
B) "Grey market" analogs of recreational drugs have been around in psychonaut markets for a while, but there was a period (early 2010s) where it seemed prominent in many countries even beyond Internet forum areas, eg they were sold in "head shops" and the like. During this period you could buy questionably made cannabinoid agonists (eg "spice" in the US) and you could buy questionably made stimulants of various natures (eg "bath salts" in the US, mephedrone was big in the UK for a while as I understand it, etc.) in various shops.
This did cause some problems, particularly for certain analogs more than others. I would argue, however, that there was some moral panic exaggeration, and a very poor understanding of the science in the press. On the flip side, using people as guinea pigs as that market did probably isn't the best way to approach recreational markets.
Personally, I think it would be great if we could legalize certain compounds, in a controlled manner, using scientific data to determine the dangers and guide appropriate actions. Both of the above examples IMHO show that a good legalization scheme would needs regulations, some compounds more than others.
I do believe our current punitive-oriented approach is ridiculously ineffective.
For the rest, there has been some "experiments" that provide perhaps some data on what would happen if legalized:
A) Oxycodone was a professionally manufactured, predictable dose pill. The way it was distributed in abuse mode was "not very legal" (abuse of the prescription / controlled substance system). But it still caused huge amounts of problems. In fact, in some areas, you could say it was more of a problem than illegal compounds at one point. Uncontrolled legalization would only invite more shady players into this game; I would say any legalization with opioids needs strong caution.
(Interestingly enough, Adderall, effectively prescription amphetamine, has had a similar "grey market prescription abuse" thing akin to oxycodone. There doesn't seem to be nearly that much news on that compound (other than the occasional news article on it being a "study drug"). First impression is that you could be much looser with that compound compared to opioids...)
B) "Grey market" analogs of recreational drugs have been around in psychonaut markets for a while, but there was a period (early 2010s) where it seemed prominent in many countries even beyond Internet forum areas, eg they were sold in "head shops" and the like. During this period you could buy questionably made cannabinoid agonists (eg "spice" in the US) and you could buy questionably made stimulants of various natures (eg "bath salts" in the US, mephedrone was big in the UK for a while as I understand it, etc.) in various shops.
This did cause some problems, particularly for certain analogs more than others. I would argue, however, that there was some moral panic exaggeration, and a very poor understanding of the science in the press. On the flip side, using people as guinea pigs as that market did probably isn't the best way to approach recreational markets.
Personally, I think it would be great if we could legalize certain compounds, in a controlled manner, using scientific data to determine the dangers and guide appropriate actions. Both of the above examples IMHO show that a good legalization scheme would needs regulations, some compounds more than others.
I do believe our current punitive-oriented approach is ridiculously ineffective.