Earlier quoted context omitted.
> probably creating orders of magnitude more addicts [citation needed]
If there’s x% chance of addiction and the availability increases by few orders of magnitude wouldn’t it naturally follow?
I would expect the opposite in fact - legal stuff loses quite a bit of its cool factor for youth, its not much rebelling if you can buy it in shop just around the corner, with better quality and effect you exactly prefer. Added tax revenue is just a bonus.
Even strong cannabis usage is very easy to wean off compared to hard stuff like alcohol or tobacco... which is completely legal.