You and I are in complete agreement, Johnny, I just want my money eliminated from the system before those who use drugs already see this as a way of life. For example, I live in a very low-income county and it is just known that you don’t go anywhere on the first, second, third, or last day of the month. I teach at our local public school and my husband is on our local fire department. We see everyday, first hand, the drug use in the “urban culture.” legalizing will make the problem worse and bring it out into the public even more. So until some of those people literally die in the gutter because my tax dollars aren’t going to their treatments and od hospital stays, I don’t think this plan will work. If the government safety net still exists, expect very bad problems from legalization. Again, I agree that fed gov has no business regulating or declaring war against these substances.
You have made a very insightful point that is often lost in this debate. Although drug legalization is often a part of a larger libertarian ideology, it would be a disaster if it were implemented on its own apart from the other components of the libertarian program.
As long as welfare and food assistance programs are in place, new addicts who divert their money and labors to their drug use will force taxpayers to pay for more of the food and housing costs for them and their children. Without first making real reforms to how we support those who refuse to work or can't support their families, drug legalization risks dramatically increasing this burden on those that do work.
Unless hospital emergency rooms are closed to the indigent and those who can't pay for medical care are left to die, the added cost of dealing with mass addiction and its consequences will be left to the taxpayers. The first debate has to be whether we want to live in a world without universal medical care before we risk increasing its cost.
If the criminal justice system is still publicly funded and criminals are housed in prisons rather than executed or exiled, taxpayers will have to cover the added burden of convicting and housing those who commit crimes in drug altered states or the crimes they commit to fund their addictions. Taxpayers will also have to deal with the extra burdens placed on law enforcement as well as the terrible consequences of the crimes themselves.
Drug legalization on its own would ultimately increase the role and scope of government in all aspects of our lives. I think that this may be why it is generally the political left that supports drug legalization as it furthers the rest of their agenda. No legislative changes which would increase the availability of addictive and mind altering drugs should happen before significant contractions of the welfare state are made.