Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> I don't understand - why would cheap/free drugs prevent gun battles No profit to fight over >> car break ins No need to find hundreds of dollars a day to support the habit >> or OD'ing? Known quantities of known substances can help people avoid OD from either the wrong thing (fentanyl lately) or unexpected purity. >> As far as I'm aware, junkies still need money to eat/sleep/drink and very few have a reliable sour…
That's a strange argument. Alcohol is a drug sold in the open pretty much everywhere. You still see plenty alcoholists unable to keep a job, stealing things, fighting and even dying from their habit. It's almost as if easily accessible drugs doesn't fix the underlying problem here.
Sure: being drunk in various contexts may be, and can be a serious crime (drink driving, certain commercial operators expecially). But being in possession of alcohol, drinking it in your home, sharing it with friends (provided above legal age and not driving): not a crime.
You've got the fundamental problem of addiction, for those who are addicted (many are, many are not). But you aren't layering on the additional crime of criminalisation.