Yes that is a good point but we are all responsible for our own actions at the end of the day.
The harm effect on other people from ones drug use are normally associated with the drug user having to find the money to purchase illegal drugs, if the addict could just go to the local chemist and pick up what he needs then he would not be harming anyone but himself and even that is debatable .
Sure, it would break the chain.
The drugs would be more affordable and easy to get in any pharmacy, less people would resort to theft and borrowing from gangsters to fuel their addiction. They'd be getting pure product instead of some unknown and sometimes deadly chemicals. Gangsters would lose their main income and governments would get more money from taxes.
Yeah but you are missing the point.
The governments don't want to stop drugs. They don't want to stop people from doing drugs.
The "war on drugs" is big business. Police get to buy cars, guns, bullet-proof vests.
Judges and lawyers get paid to take the cases to court.
Private companies get paid to build the jails, house the prisoners and give kickbacks to the state.
The "war" will never end. Just like the "war on terror".
It depends on your government. There are some that don't care about drug abusers and just let them do whatever they want. It's almost as if saying, "It's their body and they're the one responsible if anything bad happens to them." There's also some that banned drugs and then pretend that they're doing something about it but they only raid the ones that have big business in selling/buying drugs. There are also some that are really active that raids even small time drug sellers.
Nonetheless, I really think the control in drugs depends on the society and not on the government. If people would report the drug users they know, then the police would surely do action. Some people even when they know drug users, they don't report it because they're friends with them or they're family. Let's not put all the blame to the government while you're just sitting there in front of your computer doing nothing about the said problem.