Exactly. Crime would adjust itself, or find a new market. Compromising by legalizing something which has a purpose in being illegal is detrimental to solving the problem.
There are not open markets just floating around waiting for criminals to suddenly discover them.
* Excuse for government overstep of constitutional provisions * Money to the prison-industrial complex (i know, trite, but it's true) * One more step in the notion that you don't own your own body
And those aren't legitimate reasons, IMAO.
We're seeing this with Wall Street. Dodd-Frank is raising the costs of doing business, causing the industry to down size.
Criminals are just people. They do what is most profitable for them given their circumstances. If you legalize drugs, most of the current drug criminals will get normal jobs at McDonalds or Wall Street or whatever.