No I'm not going to convince you. Please don't take this personally, but I have stopped arguing with people partly because my experience shows that you can't convince people. You can drop some information and if they are open minded they will look at it and either accept it or not, but this whole "I just need to deliver the best, most intellectually sophisticated argument with a whole bunch of proofs, studies and this and that, and THAT will surely convince them" approach simply doesn't work because of something called "being emotionally invested". It's the achilles heel of humanity. Another reason why I'm past debating or arguing with people, especially online, is because of my mental health. This is the main reason actually. When I'm coming home I just want my peace. I don't want to log in to my account and have a whole bunch of randos pick fights with me.
Don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against civil discourse, but if the other side already comes in with the intention to bulldoze others' opinions by calling them "bullshit", and then throws in a little "convince me" to make themselves look less like an overly opinionated person...well, that just proves to me that such an individual isn't partaking in the discussion out of good faith and least of all because they actually want to be convinced. Again, don't take it personally, but I neither have the will nor the energy to play the stupid convincing game anymore. It's a fruitless endeavor. If you don't believe me, just try to remember the last time someone came back to you and said something akin to "Hi XYZ, I just realized that I was wrong. Thank you for changing my point of view". After 36y of having lived on this planet, I have only met two people who said something along those lines. So in light of this,
YOU had better convince
ME why I should waste my precious time and energy arguing with others? If you can actually convince me on this one, then I will promise to try and convince you of the views I expressed in my previous comment. Until then, my comment stands "as is" and will convince some (BK38, DeathIndustrial88) while not convincing others (you, gaumarol), which is absolutely fine by me. Take care...
The proof is in the pudding. All I'm gonna say is this: reflect on the state of our society in regards to the war on drugs, all the while asking yourself this very simple question: "Cui bono?" (who benefits?) There you have it. A little mind-tool for you and
@neversickanymore to convince yourselves instead of asking others to do the work your brains should be actually doing...and if
YOU can't convince yourselves, well how in the godamn world am I gonna be able to convince you?!


EDIT:
I'm going to end this on a diplomatic note and say something that we can perhaps all agree with: we are all wrong on varying degrees. Nobody has the complete picture. In the end, everything is opinion shaped by how we individually perceive the world. I know, it sounds terribly postmodernistic, but that's how I see it...