I understand addiction or even intoxication via some drugs (chief among them alcohol) can lead to violent crime...if we legalize the lot of it we have all those extra resources to combat violent crime...stop chasing simple buyers and sellers and clogging the precint and courts and prisons with people who have committed no violence or caused no issue for society.

Luck?

So has alcohol, but I've yet to read that you're up for banning that as well.

See Spain in the 1980s (when they had a very lax drug policy until crime numbers skyrocketed), or see the Netherlands, which has recently tightened their drug laws because of the increase in crime attributed to the previous lax drug laws.

By U.S. standards Spanish drug policy is very permissive.  Spain's drinking age for alcohol ranges from 16 to 18, depending on the autonomous region.  Treatment instead of incarceration initiatives like drug courts are designed to mainstream illicit drug offenders and as such do not preclude social welfare benefits denied to drug offenders in the U.S.  Drug offenders in Spain are eligible for unemployment benefits.  As one of the last countries in Europe to embrace harm reduction, Spanish drug policy continues to evolve.  Public drug consumption that was once common during the post-Franco cultural revolution of the 1980's is now frowned upon.  Administrative fines for public consumption once thought to exist on paper only are now enforced in many autonomous regions.  In response to a growing problem of alcohol intoxication among teenagers at ad hoc street parties, public consumption of alcohol was outlawed in March of 2002.  Outdoor cafes and bars with patios are exempted from "La Ley del Botellon."

Click or Drug Policy Me

From the same source, on The Netherlands:

A key aspect of Dutch drug policy is the notion of market separation. By classifying drugs according to the risks posed and then pursuing policies that serve to isolate each market, it is felt that users of soft drugs are less likely to come into contact with users of hard drugs. Thus, the theory goes, users of soft drugs are less likely to try hard drugs. Possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use has been decriminalized in the Netherlands. The sale of cannabis is technically an offence under the Opium Act, but prosecutorial guidelines provide that proceedings will only be instituted in certain situations. An operator or owner of a coffee shop (which is not permitted to sell alcohol) will avoid prosecution if he/she meets the following criteria:

    no more than 5 grams per person may be sold in any one transaction;
    no hard drugs may be sold;
    drugs may not be advertised;
    the coffee shop must not cause any nuisance;
    no drugs can be sold to minors (under age 18), nor may minors enter the premises; and
    the municipality has not ordered the establishment closed.

Separating the markets by allowing people to purchase soft drugs in a setting where they are not exposed to the criminal subculture surrounding hard drugs is intended to create a social barrier that prevents people experimenting with drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, drugs deemed an "unacceptable risk." Decriminalization of the possession of soft drugs for personal use and the toleration of sales in controlled circumstances has not resulted in a worryingly high level of consumption among young people. The extent and nature of the use of soft drugs does not differ from the pattern in other Western countries. As for hard drugs, the number of addicts in the Netherlands is low compared with the rest of Europe and considerably lower than that in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Dutch rates of drug use are lower than U.S. rates in every category.