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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022

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I don't know if I worded it in the best way. I'm not saying that pure heroin is necessarily "safer", but rather that the dangers are at least less unpredictable to the stepped on stuff. When people do drugs that are stigmatized, they tend to hide or go places where they're less likely to attract attention, especially from law enforcement. I can buy alcohol at the store or go to a bar if I wanted a drink, I wouldn't have any avenues similarly sanctified if I wanted heroin. So it was not totally precise for me to say "the stigma itself" makes it more dangerous, because it's more of a parallel track than a linear causation.

On the one hand, I think you're right that the illegitimate trade is less regular and more furtive than a regularized trade would be (though once cartels have power in a trade, I remain unconvinced that legalization alone is enough to shake established market norms participants).

On the other, I think your "harms of stigma" vs. "harms of legalization" framework is exactly correct. The product is dangerous no matter how it is used. So the question is, whether the lower, irregular consumption under a prohibitory regime is worse (for various definitions of "worse") than the broader, regularized consumption under a permissive regime. And of course the size of the usage delta between prohibitory and permissive regime is a major area of contention here.