Given the failure of drug prohibition, the motivations underlying drug consumption, and the distinction between the majority of people who use drugs and the minority who abuse them, the decriminalization and eventual legalization of drugs for adults is warranted. For adolescents, drugs should be decriminalized. After legalization, the negative effects of drug laws should be greatly reduced or eliminated. Dramatic reductions in drug-related law enforcement costs together with increased tax revenues from the sale of previously illicit drugs should produce a large net economic gain for all levels of government. This would provide a large pool of new money for drug education, drug- abuse prevention, and drug treatment. After legalization, laws, strong regulations, and law enforcement would still have key roles. Law enforcement agencies, in lieu of current programs of national/international interception, interdiction, and eradication could focus their efforts on public safety and the prevention of violent crime. Strategies toward tobacco, the only major drug abused by the majority who consume it, could be toughened, particularly as they relate to children and adolescents. Ongoing monitoring of adolescent drug consumption should continue and be expanded. Because the major reasons why people choose to use or not use drugs are unrelated to laws and sanctions, there should not be a significant increase in adolescent drug use under decriminalization. Alcohol will remain the drug of choice because of its role in social interaction. Although adolescent experimentation with drugs may initially increase due to easier access, there is no reason to assume that abuse will increase, especially if students are receiving drug education along with comprehensive mental health education. Effective education can provide individuals with adaptive short- term and long-term coping skills for managing stress and life issues in lieu of taking drugs to deal with personal pain. Also, as the risk-taking attractiveness of using certain drugs is reduced, their attractiveness may diminish for some adolescents. 2 tables and 42 references