I don't think making drugs illegal has really made their availability difficult, but I went to a highschool where drugs were pretty readily available if that's what someone was looking for. So to me it looks like tax income & supply chain regulation being left on the table
Living in Canada legalizing Cannabis has indeed introduced more people to using it. I think you underestimate the stigma attached to using illicit substances, and the barrier this places on regular folk.
> By 2019, more than 5.1 million people nationally, or 16.8% of Canadians aged 15 or older, reported using cannabis in the three months before surveying (Table 1). This was higher than the 14.9% (4.5 million) reporting use, on average, in 2018 (before legalization).
What should be illegal (or at least require treatment) is the behavior after taking drugs. Being drunk in your own home alone is one thing; getting behind the wheel of a car and driving is different. People have always wanted to hammer their brain in some way since people existed; legislation can't change that. If you can't be responsible taking it and (potentially) hurt others then you have to pay the price. Taxing the sale of drugs would bring in quite a bit of money as well. Even treating pot the same as cigarettes/alcohol (which are way more dangerous) would likely cause a lot less experimentation with more dangerous stuff.
Personally I have no interest in messing up my brain taking anything, I rarely drink more than a single beer and even that is rare, much less anything else.
