nimby

I've been watching a small drama unfold on my street. The local high schoolers had gotten very comfortable smoking out in an alley nearby, between a ... and a ... (names suppressed to protect the innocent). It is a skinny, dank, concrete path behind an overloaded dumpster. Not the most appealing place to get high, but I can understand their choice: it is steps away from the school building, allowing them to maximize their lunch hour high. I'm not entirely clear on Oakland's position towards drugs, but it seems to be one of blind permissiveness. The drug dealers on the corner greet me personally as I walk by, deals are made at all hours of the day, in broad daylight and in the middle of the street. Students and dealers alike vacillate between blatantly flaunting and stealthily concealing their commerce. Some students walk boldly down the center of the street, exchanging large bills and small packets, ostentatiously rolling joints and passing the joint around. The others sneak into the alley, post look-outs, and try to avoid the principal's surveillance by hopping fences and skulking through backyards.
Petty crime and violence, however, has been increasing, so the school and police have upped their surveillance. It did not take the kids long to abandon their alley; they now head a block or two up, with that hurried nonchalance of an addict heading towards the source.
My feeling is that kids will be kids; whether its drugs, petty crime or just being loud, they are reacting against authorities and systems that would prefer to keep them quiet and meekly obedient. Eventually one approaches this as a personal choice--either to live according to a civic code or not; in adolescence, I think, it appears less as a choice and more simply as imposed 'rules.'
I have nothing against drug use and feel that if it were legalized, then many of the real problems associated with drugs such as violence and poverty would diminish. What does give me pause is the lack of respect: why does disrespect for others nearly always accompany drug use? Couldn't they just get their high and not steal cars for joyrides, not commit random violent acts?