As are alcohol, tobacco, and bacon double cheeseburgers.
Who among us is asking for prohibition on alcohol and cheeseburgers? That is politically impossible, even if we wanted to do it.
The point is that if you're really concerned about "harm to the body" as you claim to be, you should at least want and ask for those bans as well as continuation of the marijuana ban (whether you invest energy in those goals is a different question). If you can't even bring yourself to say, "Yes, I favor bans on all things that are harmful to the body" then your "harmful to the body" argument against marijuana is merely a smokescreen.
But we should keep in place a bright line around marijuana and harder drugs. Alcohol already causes huge problems. So why legalize drugs that are even more addictive?
Marijuana is less addictive than alcohol. And by your logic, why not criminalize the drug that is harmful to the body and already causes huge problems: alcohol?
Your compromise solution – the heroin-and-Jack Daniels utopia —
What's your ideal policy on Jack Daniels?
I missed your reply to this question.
will still have burdensome rules and be a big, malignant mess.
Legalized alcohol is working much better than the alternative did.
You favor regulating heroin and crack cocaine like hard liquor — even though that would involve the exact sort of bureaucratic rules and police that libertarians abhor.
Then so much the worse for the libertarians. If one wants to come and argue to me that no drugs, including alcohol, should be regulated, I'll be happy to argue against him.
The stuff would inevitably spread into schools and neighborhoods everywhere, not just the inner city.
It's already in schools and neighborhoods under criminalization - because a black market can't be regulated. Another argument in favor of legalization and regulation.
It would be far cheaper
Thus taking profits away from criminals - and reducing motivation to theft. Another argument in favor of legalization and regulation.
and more abundant than today.
Much more abundant? I see no reason to believe that there are millions of adults who are deterred from hard drug use by its illegality but who would be undeterred by its inherent self-harms.
Sixteen-year old kids will become hooked for life.
As I noted in post #103 (with no response from you on that point) kids report that they can get illegal-for-adults pot more easily than they can get legal-for-adults beer. Another argument in favor of legalization for adults and regulation.
No heroin is NOT at most places — because it is illegal and expensive. If you can’t understand the law of supply and demand, you understand nothing at all. There will certainly be more demand when heroin and crack are everywhere. Frail humans will be less worried about “self-harm” it heroin is as cheap and ubiquitous as popcorn. It’s called being placed in a position of temptation. As for banning alcoholic-double cheeseburgers, it is politically impossible. It’s an irrelevant issue. Why even discuss it? It’s much more practical to keep hard drugs illegal.