I remember watching a PBS program in the early 90's with a girl from the 'hood saying essentially the same thing. Her take was that the dealers on the street weren't going to stop just because the cops/city government wanted them to, but if you could find a way for them to take the money they made and channel it into legal businesses, most of them would rather do that because they knew what their life expectancy was otherwise.<p>In her words "they're already businessmen. They know how to make money and talk to people but everybody looks down on them for what they do." I thought it was a very insightful comment even back then.<p>The thing that drove it home for me was when driving through the projects some years later, I saw a well-dressed (complete with walking stick!) elderly man selling heroin on the street. No way you're just going to get people to stop unless you show them an alternative.