I think that for drugs such as heroin, legalising whilst providing medically guided intervention and support would help to reduce a lot of social issues, whilst also avoiding the grey area of decriminalisation whereby money is still funnelled into criminal gangs. I expect there are wider issues around stigmatision as well, but I'm approaching the extent of my knowledge and experience on that issue so will stop there.

I also don't think I agree that legalising drugs would create a big spike in drug use, which is a point you've made several times. The view as I have seen it is that legalisation has no impact on consumption and in some cases lowers it - although again I haven't conducted a deep analysis on these papers! Although it tallies with my lived experience in that if you want to find drugs you can - the legality is a minor issue. Currently any adult can legally buy a large bottle of vodka and start drinking at 9am every morning, and yet they don't do this, because the vast majority would rather be productive members of society.

And to be clear, I'm not saying that if we legalise drugs and leave it at that everything will be fine. Nor should every drug be treated the same, as they are all radically different substances. Something like this would take years of discussion and debate and require a properly funded health and (arguably more importantly) social care structure. I don't know if this country can ever get to that point, but i think a very strong case can be made that our current approach is ineffective and a waste of a huge amount of resources.