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And exactly how many examples exist of this strategy ever working for any other contraband in the USA?

Precursor regulation actually works quite well with opiates, and they've documented that, to the extent that they've been able to crack down on meth precursors, street purity of meth has gone down and fewer people die. Go watch the PBS thing. It's sobering.

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Much better to simply unleash the USA's army of lawyers and bureaucrats onto the problem: legalize, productize, and regulate the heck out of it. This would result in safer meth on the street, far fewer home-brew stills for the junk, and sufficient profits to pay for the cremations.

This sort of argument is better suited to marijuana, where you can at least make a case for the public good, as well as pointing out that alcohol abuse is generally much worse than marijuana abuse, and our society can tollerate alcohol. With meth, this kind of argument doesn't work. Meth is a nasty drug. If it was cheap and legal, it would kill more people and destroy more lives than it does now. There's just no way to argue that legalized meth is a good public policy.

(Really, go watch that PBS thing, if you can.)