[Mark Bahner]

"The problem here is that the fears are real."

Any fear you have about drugs' effect on society should be exceeded by a fear of the government not following The Law.

"For example, eliminating all social welfare would make far more people self-reliant, it would also certainly recreate the human tragedies described so well by Dickens and other 19th cen. writers."

I think that's nonsense. The *per-capita*--that's per person, so it has nothing to do with population increase--wealth in the United States today is approximately 10 times what it was in late 19th century (say, 1880's). But don't accept my assertion that what you've written is nonsense (that we'll return to Dickensian conditions). The solution is to: 1) eliminate social spending at the federal level (because it's unconstitutional), but 2) make up for that eliminated federal spending at the state and local level (or with private charity).

"Reasonable and pragmatic solutions are welcomed."

Is it "reasonable and pragmatic" for the federal government to follow The Law (the Constitution)...changing the Constitution if the present document is somehow flawed or inadequate?

If you agree it's "reasonable and pragmatic" for the federal government to follow The Law...then you should agree it's "reasonable and pragmatic" for the federal government to completely eliminate laws criminalizing drugs, and to completely eliminate federal social spending. Or you should advocate constitutional amendments to give the federal government the power to criminalize the possession and within-state sale of drugs, and to provide social services.

[Pietro]

oh yeah, one more thing;

"then you should agree it's "reasonable and pragmatic" for the federal government ..... to completely eliminate federal social spending."

So you're going to tell Mr. Paycheck-to-paycheck, I'm going to eliminate SS and medicare and he'll say "Gee, mom will move in w/ me AND I get to pay her medical bills, what a great idea!".

What amazes me is that you even get 2% of the vote. Must be all those motherless atheists out there.