“When you first back off enforcement, there are not many people walking over the line that you’ve removed. And the public think it’s working really well. Then word gets out that there’s an open market, limits to penalties, and you start drawing in more drug users. Then you’ve got a more stable drug culture, and, frankly, it doesn’t look as good anymore.”
There's the Singapore solution. "Singapore executes man for trafficking two pounds of cannabis", April 23, 2023.[1]
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/25/asia/singapore-cannabis-execu...