Yes 17,000, but we can only speculate how many of those deaths were caused from tainted drugs and the wide variance in purity, both of which are a result of the drug war.
Ever done a search on tainted heroin?
Here is just one single article.
AP-CHICAGO- A law enforcement raid on a drug ring believed linked to tainted heroin that has blamed for hundreds of deaths led to the arrests Wednesday of suspected gang members and a police officer, authorities said.
Raid targets Chicago gang members in tainted heroin trade
HUNDREDS OF DEATHS, just in one city, in a single year, from tainted heroin.
Now, how many people have died in drug related violence, all because of the war on drugs? How many lives have been ruined by unfair and unjust laws for hard drugs? How many people's lives have been destroyed in Mexico, in Colombia, in Peru, all because of the war on drugs?
For what? For an attempt to stop something which is IMPOSSIBLE to stop? In order to try to save 17,000 people from killing themselves, we allow many thousands of others to die and hundreds of thousands to have their lives destroyeed by an unjust, unfair policy?
Approx. 40,000 people die a year in auto accidents. Tobacco kills 435,000 and alcohol around 100,000.
Marijauna kills 0.
ZERO.
ZILCH.
NADA.
GOOSE EGG.
How does marijuana prohibition make sense?