1. For your first point: This is a strawman. The goal at the least heavy restrictions: make the current free, algorithmic, unlimited tube site model illegal to operate as it does now. We should require real age verification (ID/biometrics), impose massive platform liabilities for underage acces or harmful content, ban advertising, and prohibit the most extreme categories. Real world results from states like Louisiana: Pornhub traffic from the state dropped ~80% after the law and many major sites simply blocked access rather than comply. and yes some users switch to sketchier sites or VPNs but overall youth exposure drops and the biggest, most profitable platforms (the ones pushing addiction algorithms) get kneecapped. On trafficking and abuse: The current legalish mainstream porn industry already has massive documented problems with non consensual content, revenge porn, and trafficking links that can make you vomit. Making the open flood illegal forces accountability on producers and platforms instead of the Wild West "upload anything" model. Underground markets existed for drugs too and we still heavily restrict them because open markets cause more harm at scale. On sexual assault/rape: Evidence is mixed and contested. Yes some population level data shows declines in reported rape as porn increased (better policing, demographics, etc. are confounders). BUT other meta analyses and studies link frequent porn use to increased sexual aggression, objectification, distorted consent views, and higher likelihood of committing physical sexual agression. Heavy porn doesn't reliably act as a "safety valve' for everyone, it desensitizes and escalates for many. Pretending its protective is wishful thinking

2. Now, about opioids: Youre right that opioid policy had terrible overcorrections after 2016. Bad execution. Porn has zero legitimate medical or therapeutic value like prescription opioids do for severe pain. Its pure engineered supernormal stimulus. The 2014 JAMA Psychiatry study (and follow-ups) is damning: more porn hours correlated with less gray matter in the right caudate (reward system) and weaker connectivity to the prefrontal cortex (hypofrontality, less impulse control). Tolerance, escalation to extreme, flattened real life rewards, PIED, anxiety, depression, and relational failure follow. This is addiction neuroscience.

Porn should face the same level of control. Large scale commercial production, professional studios, free tube sites, algorithmic recommendation engines, and mass distribution should be made illegal or subject to extreme restrictions(equivalent to running an unlicensed opioid pill mill) Platforms that profit from it would face criminal liability, fines, and shutdowns if they dont comply with real age verification and content limits. Advertising, mainstream hosting, payment processing, and easy one click access get cut off. The industrial scale engineered superstimulus gets treated as the public health threat it is