> Let me know when one of your closest friends gets arrested by the Feds and you don't get to see them for a decade plus.*
Which seems like an argument in support of GP. If we didn't make these illegal, which then increases prices and danger (only the most ruthless survive), which in turn incentivizes one of your closest friends to take the risk by getting involved in the supply side, then you wouldn't have to worry about "your closest friends gets arrested by the Feds and you don't get to see them for a decade plus."
If you're talking about demand side (i.e. your friend is a user), banning the markets won't address that problem. Sure it impacts demand, but it will never eliminate it and it only makes those sucked in all the more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, and unable to get help from law enforcement since they are committing crimes (this is the identical problem that sex workers with abusive jons and/or "pimps" often have as well).