Chet,

I remember seeing a TV show about Liverpool, England. They not only legalised drugs but prescribed them for free under the National Health Service.
Your friend was right, the gangs and crime quickly disappeared. With drugs available free, there was no profit to be had. However, the drugs were prescribed by a doctor and the 'patients' had to undergo therapy sessions in order to get them. The mystique had gone and for many it just wasn't worth the effort so the gave up the drugs.

This was a few years ago and I haven't heard anything since, so I don't know if the program is still active.

One thing that prevents such proven workable solutions from being implemented is that many polititians campaign using and 'anti crime ticket' and if these problems were solved they would lose this popular platform. And any polititian trying to implement such solutions would be branded as a druggie and a mob lover.

So these 'leaders' of ours create these artificial crimes so that they can run as crime fighting heroes.

Bert.