A possible solution to our drug problem

Not only do we spend a great deal of money on drugs, but a lot more is spent as a result of the huge amount of petty crime carried out in order to pay for drug usage.  Most of the money spent directly on drugs leaves the United States, and ultimately improves the standard of living for people in other countries at the cost of our own.

What if the government  took over the drug business?  Suppose that the US government bought directly from the drug manufacturers at their price, and distributed the drugs in the US to whoever wanted them for free and without legal consequences?  Drug kiosks could provide marijuana, cocaine, crack, heroin, opiates to anyone of age who wanted them.  The money would come from the huge amounts allocated now to fight drug importation and use.  And it would come from the reduction in prison costs and rehabilitation costs and reduction in drug police
.
Since there is no cost there is no profit.  The gangs that control, distribute and sell  drugs  would go out of business.  The crime that supports drug habits would stop since it would be unnecessary.  There would be no motivation to encourage drug use or to  expand a drug market since there would be no drug market.

What would be the consequences?  Some people would probably overdose and die.  Many of them would eventually in any case, but there might well be an increase.  Fewer  people would die of contaminated or adulterated drugs since they would be pure.  Fewer people would die in gang wars over turf, which is always a war of the marketplace to some degree.  Fewer law enforcement people would be killed and fewer employed.

Whether or not drug usage would ultimately stop is not an answerable question.  People have always sought substances that provide certain experiences and sensations,  and there is no reason to think that easy access would change that.  But they would be healthier in the process and not at all  likely to descend into crime to support what would be a free product.

Would a drug craze sweep the nation, that is, more than it already has? In fact people already have nearly unfettered access to drugs now.  Does anyone doubt that they could obtain any drug they were interested in within the next few hours?  Free controlled access would only mean that there would be some ability to limit sales to the very young, but there is no way to prevent sharing of drugs once out of the drug kiosk, and there is no way to prevent inappropriate sharing, just as  happens now with alcohol, marijuana, and ... wait.   That happens now.

The problem would be that we are supporting drug manufacturing organizations in other countries.  Of course, we are now.  But it is possible that competition for our huge business would drive costs down over time.  Perhaps eventually drug manufacture would be no more of a major business that the manufacture of tennis shoes.  More money would stay in the US.  We would have a little more say about the quality of product.

There really is no way to predict a long-range outcome.  But what we see before us now is not very favorable, and seems to be getting worse.  What problems do you see with this proposal