The criminalization of the use of specified mind-altering drugs to terminate or significantly reduce their use has not achieved its purpose. Because the volume of drug-law violations persists and has even increased, the cost of continuing a law enforcement mode for addressing the problem has increased as well, while diverting criminal justice resources from other law enforcement efforts. Drug trafficking has become the core of economic promise for many urban residents, and drug use has become standard behavior for coping with urban poverty and hopelessness. The legalization of currently illegal drugs would involve the creation of a structure of control and taxation similar to that currently used for the sale and consumption of alcohol. A study of the use of various substances after their legalization suggests that legalization would not release the floodgates of drug abuse. Drug use would certainly continue, but at decreased costs to society and with the provision of more resources for treating drug addiction as a public health problem requiring prevention and treatment efforts.