Drug laws; should they be taken off the books?

[samsara15]

Of what use are drug laws? By what right do we deprive other, presumably free, adult human beings of free choice in the matter? Do we live our lives entirely at the sufferance of others? If they harm no one else when they are 'imparied', what business is it of ours?

[Protostar]

Quote by: samsara15 Of what use are drug laws? By what right do we deprive other, presumably free, adult human beings of free choice in the matter? Do we live our lives entirely at the sufferance of others? If they harm no one else when they are 'imparied', what business is it of ours?

None. I think hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin should remain illegal, but marijuana should be legalized. It makes no sense to illegalize a drug that isn't even as dangerous as tobacco or alcohol.

[SteveA]

As I tend to always suggest (except for a few things) It should be removed from federal legislation. I think it should be a decision left up to the states and/or people to address.

Having some areas in the country where drug use was allowed would remove a lot of the conflict and profitability from underground pressures elsewhere and if people didn't want to see drugs in their neighborhood, maybe allowing some place else for people to go would resolves a lot things.

The problems we had with drugs prior to when the "war" started were minor in comparison to now. I think that's due to many reasons outside simply the war on drugs but the occasional person that ODed or tried skydiving off an apartment building without a parachute was minor in comparison to the armed gangs and crowded prisons we see now. It's also harder to help people that desire it with things underground.

Consider Nevada allowed gambling and prostitution and people that desired an environment more like this had places to go. (Nevada happens to be one of the fastest growing states in the U.S. It and Arizona were predicted to be the top two states in population growth over the next couple decades).

If you look at Nevada also, it's not a den of impoverished gambling addicts and as far as I know there's no plague of sexually transmitted diseases either. I have no idea what percent of the people are in prison there but I'll assume few are in there for gambling.

[leftcider]

Illegalizing drugs brings with it a dangerous and violent underground drug trade. Legalize drugs and we'll all be safer off. The only social situation the government should be intervening in is that which the invididual directly harms another person. Most drug users (even of hard drugs) non-criminals in all walks of society. I think it's generally a bad idea to use drugs and I don't use outside of alcohol, but like Steve said earlier the costs of a Drug War is much greater than the cost of legalization. Drug Illegalization is the new Prohibition, and we all know how well that went with empowering the mob, etc.

[Osborn F Enready]

In my opinion, if there are ANY drug laws, they should originate from the local or state authorities, and even then, I question their validity.

The Federal Government has no business attempting to regulate human craving, or human consumption.