I agree with most previous posts about how terrible the effects of illicit drugs are on individuals and society as a whole. I also think most of those drugs should be legal. The war on drugs was a joke and if you haven't looked at the damage the abuse of legal drugs cause then you should. We are not going to attempt to rid the world of those though.
I'm not a libertarian. This is not about personal freedom. I'm not suggesting problems with drugs go away with legalization.
It just seems like the only reason we keep most drugs illegal is because we don't like the harm they cause. And it makes sense, at first blush to push the things we don't like away and say, lets make them illegal.
Well, after a lot of time it now seems to me we would be better situated to deal these terrible consequences and mitigate them more effectively if we were to be in better control their distribution and not only profited from the sale but save untold millions on incarceration and cut brutal sociopaths out of the money.
It's kind of like keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
It's not possible politically but I think it would be an improvement on the current terrible situation that has no prospect of getting better outside of continuous efforts to educate. Too bad those funds come and go based on political climate.
It is possible to have things that are legal that you think are bad. Being legal is not an endorsement.
By the way think how much education and awareness you could have to reinforce that message if the money that went to drug lords and locking people up went towards a cause that makes a difference. Forget about all the millions in tax dollars, that would just get wasted like the rest of it ; )
Bash away...