Rush Limbaugh had a segment on this when a libertarian called in this week. Rush handled it fairly well, pointing out the wider implications of allowing pot use on an unrestricted basis, and how the government is itching to tax it severely.
Bear in mind, that for every pot user obtaining the substance through legal channels, the following benefits accrue:
1.) reduction in law enforcement assets toward searching, seizing, prosecuting, and incarcerating those who produce and use cannabis.
2.) standards that introduce an element of safety for those who use cannabis for health or recreation.
3.) an opportunity for revenue that inhibits overuse and abuse.
The downside, IMO, is a population stupid enough to vote for Obama and lazy enough to feed from the trough of those who expend labor and virtue in the interest of bettering all people. That’s a fairly big down side.
I’d like to take a toke now and then without fear of prosecution, and having no responsibilities in private. But those occasions are rare. I’m willing to undergo physical tests, psychological tests, and pay a small license fee if my fellow citizens are willing to allow me that occasion.
In a more practical vein, this is one area where conservatives, if they think about it, could make some compromise and very likely win a significant amount of support from people who want to relax a little and have decent heads on their shoulders in the way of conscience and reason; who abhor the notion of killing babies in the womb and abusing every bodily orifice in the interest of self-pleasure. I surmise that population is quite large.
So should we legalize over-the-counter heroin ? (prescription is, of course, commonly available in a variety of mixes).
We could then have the pharma companies produce it here instead of having the CIA produce it in Afghanistan and incur the huge cost of having our military there to protect the operation.
We could put the heroin into schools right along with vaccinations to promote the product.
Avoiding taxes is going to be the big stickler. If you grow some in your garden and it makes it onto the street, how is the government going to know? If you grow 3 lbs of pot and it is selling for $150 an oz, are you going to turn that down?