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No, they are not. Eradicating drug use is entirely possible- there are societies which have done so on a practical level- and people overdose on regular opiates too. Illegal drugs are because of non-enforcement of drug laws. California has a black market for dope with full legalization, for crying out loud.
It’s technically true that the fastest way to get rid of illegal drugs is to legalize them. But this doesn’t solve the problem drug laws are intended to address.
California has a a black market for weed because the "legalize and tax it" people set the taxes way too high. So cannabis enjoyers compare price and quality and make an informed choice to get the illegal stuff. No doubt encouraged by the extreme lack of enforcement.
Those other societies are other societies. We do not have a nation almost entirely composed of Japanese people. And with the enormous amounts of money involved and the mass desire for drug use, I don't think merely trying to enforce the laws harder will help. I think our collective non-compliance is so great compared to our government's law enforcement capacity that we can't eradicate drug use. But we could work around the margins to discourage it a bit more.
On an unrelated point I do wish they'd enforce the laws against open air drug markets and open use in certain major cities. But that's a quality of life complaint from me.
Bullshit. The US having a mandatory death penalty for drug dealers is exactly as likely as a national abortion ban- they have the same precondition(total red tribe political victory). Lax enforcement leads to meaningfully more drug use. California set the taxes way too high, but there's black market cigarettes literally everywhere, and California also has a large pre-existing problem with just not enforcing the law. It's not like cracking down on the illegal sellers wouldn't drive people back to paying taxes on the shit.
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