Comment by 1718627440

There are people who think it is a crime and there are people who don't. Having something being a crime and not prosecute it hard enough makes both factions unhappy. The claim is that starting to prosecute a crime lightly leads to a shift in mentality in the society, which leads to people who don't perceive it to be a crime. This will eventually lead to it being inevitable that it is allowed. The policy claim is that you need to prosecute it harder before it comes to late. (I am inclined to agree to these claims.) The fact that you refer to it as "criminalization" seams to be evidence, that it is already too late.

My personal opinion, which wasn't stated yet, is that after a phase of lax regulation the problems become excessive, which leads to a larger part of the population to agree to a harder regime. After some time nobody remembers these things so it tends to become lax again. In other words I think this is going in circles, so I don't think we need to try it this time. Have a middle way and help thus who can't get off by themselves.