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No, but it's not the root cause that should be fought.

Things that cause drug abuse, especially the most harmful ones, are:

* lack of education. This was sometimes on purpose, with drug companies lying to get people hooked on opioids

* poverty and despair in general

* mental health

* many other things

Those can and should be fought, and they are a lot more effective than policing overall, and also a lot cheaper.

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Do you think it's possible that drugs prevent the things on that list from happening? Drugs are more frequently causal of those things than a symptom.

It's more common to find people who start addictions from a financially stable position where they have some discretional income. Rarely do people begin addictions where they have to decide between food or a drug they're not addicted to.

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