Len,

My reasoning process tells me this would increase the number of deaths. The 95%/5% distribution would lead me to want to review the legality of currently legal drugs. At a minimum, the numbers make a good case that we don't need more legal drugs.

>
>One estimate of deaths due to smoking in the US (other than passive smoking) is around 300000 (from same EPA report above, I believe). So (in round figures) there are around 500000 deaths in the US each year due to some form of drug abuse, 95% due to legal drugs & 5% due to illegal drugs. So maybe it is reasonable to review the legality of some (maybe all) currently illegal drugs.