Kofi Annan on Why It's Time to Legalize Drugs

Public opinion does not drive policy in this case, it is driven by policy. The public has been whipped up into a frenzy about drugs for years using various fear tactics, primarily racism to scare them into having a particular opinion which you now cite as "the majority's moral opposition". The moral opposition is trained as part of a concerted and very successful propaganda campaign.

Just like getting simple tax code, lots of accountants/lawyers, etc.

This is an extremely misguided statement. The demand for high quality weed has never been higher. It doesn't matter if you legalize it, because you are still taxing it 50%. The individual sellers and producers will keep doing their thing. I can tell you right now that people who sell weed don't just magically start selling heroin. The types of people who sell weed are TOTALLY different that the types of people who sell heroin.

Yes, some people exist who sell both - but those types of dealers have been selling every kind of drug they can get their hands on and will never stop.

I think you need to take another look at the supply and demand of high quality marijuana. It is hard to consistently produce high quality marijuana - and once you do cure it correctly and get it packaged, it flies off the shelf as fast as you can answer your phone, regardless of if you are in a state where it is legal or not. Furthermore, there are many people who deliver marijuana on bikes and in cars and make a very good living. These people are not going to loose business to legal dispensaries I can guarantee you. There is always demand for reliable dealers who deliver high quality to you asap. Independent producers and dealers will be able to consistently undercut dispensary prices because the government is taxing it 50%. Combined with the value of delivery and you are not going to see marijuana dealers switch to selling heroin because weed is legalized.... it doesnt work that way. Two completely different clientele/lifestyle/risk factors.

Possession of drugs remains illegal indeed (we are not talking about marijuana here — this is about "hard" drugs). But you can come to one of Quai9 centres and there are drugs available directly from the government (I am not sure whether for free or for nominal price — perhaps the latter), all of Swiss pharmaceutical quality. Heroin is definitely available (the personnel will try to move heroin addicts to replacement therapy ASAP, but at first, they can continue their habit), not sure about cocaine, but I think it is there as well, as there are mentions of "sniffing places" installed, whatever it is.

Thus, there is no possession and no trade (and it's pointless to engage of criminal trade of something that is legally available from the government).

The same goes with guns. It is legal to own, buy and sell very impressive guns in Switzerland, but it is illegal to own _ammo_ (unless you are hunter, or can prove that you need self-defense — but this is how it is handled in most European countries; Switzerland is different by making actual gun trade legal).

So, how do you fire these guns? Simple: you take one of them, go to the shooting range, and there you can buy some ammo to shoot with (it is very illegal to take it home). Shooting ranges are government-supported and regulated (Swiss government actually encourages citizens to train at shooting ranges).