>Alcohol will be abused by highschool kids. It's a given
But in the UK it's not even regarded as "abuse". It's perfectly normal for 15 year olds to drink alcohol with their friends. (And not against the law, if they are doing it in private.)
There may be benefits to legalizing drugs, but the idea that it will reduce usage of them is a fantasy.
It's in that strange area between normal and looked down on that depends on the class background of the observer. It is a problem, but a slowly declining one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31452735
Cannabis is effectively legal in the UK now, but there's no evidence of a decline in use as far as I know. Certainly not a precipitous one.
I'm not sure what you mean about class background. There must be very few 15 year olds in the UK, from any class background, who haven't used alcohol. I wasn't really referring to binge drinking. My point was that the fact that it's easier for young people to legally drink alcohol in the UK than it is in the US seems to have an effect.
Ah right, I was referring to distinction between "problematic" and "non-problematic" use. People generally accept that you can have a "non-problematic" use of alcohol but not everyone accepts that for the other drugs. Although you'll still find newspaper editorials concerned about teenage drinking. And in the really regressive papers, concern about women drinking.
While cannabis simple possession is very rarely prosecuted the police are still going after grow houses. I think it would have to be legitimised (properly legal) to see a decline due to losing the "rebel" factor.
Well, maybe. I don't think smoking cannabis is really seen as rebellious these days, though.
I don't see any reason to believe that legalizing a drug will stop people using it, or cause them to use it more responsibly than they do currently. We have a case study in the form of prohibition in the US. There's certainly no evidence that alcohol use declined following the repeal of prohibition.
But in the UK it's not even regarded as "abuse". It's perfectly normal for 15 year olds to drink alcohol with their friends. (And not against the law, if they are doing it in private.)
There may be benefits to legalizing drugs, but the idea that it will reduce usage of them is a fantasy.