Drug use is a health problem that is resolved by decriminalization and treatment.
That still leaves some closely related problems:
* black market drug sales
* people who would rather use drugs than do something else with their lives
* a society that fails to present more attractive opportunities (to every person) than using drugs
These problems need their own solutions. Some people think that criminalization is the solution to all of them. That solution has been tried in every extreme, and utterly failed every time.
I think people often end up doing drugs rather than something else because they've fallen through the social safety net (if it even exists) and they don't have anything else to do.
Drug use is primarily a problem of physics, and education on its effects. They feel great to the human brain, initially, for many drugs. And they can harm you too. Recognize nothing the government does will stop them, not even executing drug dealers nor decriminalization. Pandora's box is unleashed.
That still leaves some closely related problems:
* black market drug sales
* people who would rather use drugs than do something else with their lives
* a society that fails to present more attractive opportunities (to every person) than using drugs
These problems need their own solutions. Some people think that criminalization is the solution to all of them. That solution has been tried in every extreme, and utterly failed every time.