Perhaps one of the most pressing concerns is health and the assumption that, to some extent, criminalization is justified by preservation of health. In reality, illicit drugs are not as dangerous to public health as popular belief suggests, especially when it comes to some legal recreational activities. Of the 25,000 deaths due to illegal drug use highlighted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the majority are more correctly due to drug prohibition than drug use. In addition, some 14,300 deaths are due to diseases like AIDS, transmitted (usually) through contaminated drug injection needles. Sterile needle exchange programs are encouraged by the World Health Organization, among many other international organizations, as they are considered probably the greatest innovation for improving the health of users. However, the federal government refuses to allocate its funds to these programs because the possession and sale of syringes remains largely illegal. Furthermore, - as I will explain later - between sellers and producers there is no real trust in the content and therefore in the dangerousness of a given illicit drug. Given the already growing level of consumption, imagine the gains of, say, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) overseeing illicit drugs, alongside its work on food and drugs.