Originally Posted by
Organ Morgan.
Supply outstrips demand in major cities where turf wars abound amongst violent organised gangs and they seek new punters in quiet backwaters. The illegal drug trade spawns all sorts of other criminality - shoplifting, home and commercial burglaries, begging, etc - committed by desperate addicts who'd rob their gran's dentures while they're having a kip on the settee if there's a few quid to be made.
Britain tried to culturally destroy China 180 years ago via what became known as The Opium Wars. China solved the problem by placing every drug dealer and user before firing squads until none remained and very few cared to indulge afterwards knowing what the consequences of discovery would entail.
There's many countries today where there's no issues surrounding what's slowly but surely causing societal disintegration in Blighty and elsewhere because citizens of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore and Iran amongst others know what draconian punishments await them. (It's no coincidence that in those same countries you'll never see flatulent tattooed lumps pushing prams.)
All's required here to eliminate the drugs plague and the resulting acquisitive crime is the political will to copy Saudi's laws and sentencing guidelines concerning drug peddlers, users and thieves.