That “authoritarian prohibition” can be applied to any and all laws, and you can apply the same argument to do away with them, since people will break them/do them anyway.
I can provide you with a horror story to counter your personal experience on how m/j is a gateway drug and what it can lead to, but I’ll spare that for now, since I find it sickening and demeaning to the participants of what occurred.
I and others believe in basic bedrock cultural standards. We either have them or we don’t, and when they are removed in the name of “personal freedom”, we become that much more lesser as a people and nation.
The drug issue often leads people to compare it to alcohol prohibition of a century ago. Curiously, many don’t ask WHY there was prohibition in the first place. They think of the stereotype of old hatchet-faced women busybodies trying to take the “fun” out of life. Far from it.
Alcoholism was rampant in this country by the late 19th and early 20th century and was the singlemost destructive force in ripping apart families. Activists took the route that the only way to deal with this destructive force was to remove it from American society. Enough people supported this movement that it was enacted into law. Although it had the unfortunate side-effect of organized crime getting into the game, it did have the beneficial effect of reducing the rate of alcohol use and abuse. Even after prohibition was abolished, the problems it was responsible for a generation earlier had arguably helped curb this epidemic. Had prohibition never happened, it’s quite likely the problem might never have abated.
But again, this goes back to cultural standards and the kind of society we want to live in. Destigmatizing narcotics usage will only lead to an explosion of the problem. If you can argue m/j should be legal, you can do the same with any narcotic that a citizen desires for “recreational” usage. Why should one and not the other ? Now that SCOTUS said “gay marriage” is A-OK (without the input of the public or voters who consistently opposed it), they’ve essentially made it so that any person in any relationship can demand said right, polygamists, group marriages, and other bizarre institutions. These things don’t uplift us, they tear us down. But some will argue this is “freedom.” I do not. Without God-given basic societal standards, what do we have ?
I think I’ll stick with liberty & the Constitution, thanks.
There are ways for humans to abuse anything & everything. Cannabis is no different in this regard than sugar or caffeine is, in my experience.
I thank Our Heavenly Father every day for giving us the cannabis plant & for regaining the ability to experience joy & happiness again by using it medicinally. Genesis 1:29 has a special place in my heart.
Still, it always cracks me up how my recovery from mental illness story never warrants a “Hey, good for you!” from authoritarian prohibitionists when I tell them cannabis is the medicine that made it happen. :)
Dish!
Actually, the temperance movement did most of its good before Prohibition was enacted. Education and social pressure works - the blunt instrument of law serves primarily to enrich criminals.
At least one scholar of the 20s rejects the notion that Prohibition “caused” organized crime. Rather, it just substituted booze for gaming & prostitution.
“Without God-given basic societal standards, what do we have ?”
Nothing. And that’s the absolute goal of the Left.