The states do not have the authority to control interstate commerce. Since that role is reserved to the Congress, then it falls upon the Congress to assist states in controlling the movement of illegal and regulated goods between the states. Would you really rather prefer Utah, say, trying to control the transportation of goods into and out of Utah from, say, Colorado?
We're not talking about just one law here. It's a cabinet level office, a federal agency, and a large part of the Justice Department as well as whole gaggle of over-reaching laws and federal regulations.
And alcohol was banned by constitutional amendment. When the people decided that Prohibition went too far, they repealed the amendment. A constitutional democratic republic at work.
IMO, if it keeps growing, it WILL bring about a police state if left unchecked, especially since these agencies know how easy it is to scare the nit-wit soccer moms into believing that if it doesn't get bigger every year then their kids are going to become junkies.
If. If. I don't believe it will keep growing and I don't believe we'll be left with a police state. But if soccer moms are worried about their children becoming junkies and you believe that this is feeding the War on Drugs, do you really believe that suggesting that drugs should be legalized is going to address their fear?
There are laws against murder and rape because those two actions violate the rights of others. There is no victim in drug use other than the person using the drugs possibly harming themselves.
First, many people actually do care about what other poeple do to themselves. I know that libertarians find this patronizing and offensive but that's life. Second, when drug users lose the ability to support and care for themselves, they become everyone's problem and do harm those around them.
If drug users want to ruin their lives, fine, that is their right. That is the risk of freedom. This isn't Nerf-World, where all the sharp edges have been rounded off and padded for our own protection.
The very act of forming into a society and submitting to a culture is an act of trading freedom for security. It has been thus for thousands of years and, for the most part, people have been opting for civilization and security.
If you are not free to mess up your own life, how free are you?
If I don't desire the freedom to mess up my own life, what difference does it make? You can give me the freedom to shoot myself in the head but what good is that freedom if I have no desire to shoot myself in the head?
How can you truely be the master of you own fate?
In what way?
This was tried in the 1920's and it failed miserably.
It failed. How "miserably" is open to debate, I think. But this is not the post-WWI period, the Roaring 20s, or the Depression and alcohol is not crack or heroin. The situations that led to a repeal of Prohibition after just over a decade are apparently not the same as teh situations that have not led to the repeal of the War on Drugs after more than two decades.
But at least those particular "drug warriors" respected our Constitution enough to do it the right way, via the amendment process. It was a testimate to the character of the country at the time when they realized that they made a mistake, admitted it and repealed that amendment. That is the stregnth of character that this country needs to find again.
So it is "bad character" that makes people not realize that they should legalize drugs. Yeah, that argument will win you lots of support.
If pot grown in Utah is transported to and sold in Colorado, then that is the feds territory. But if it's grown, sold and used in Utah, then it's Utah's issue, not the feds. That's like asking the Ohio Hiway Patrol asking the FBI to crack down on street racing.
And alcohol was banned by constitutional amendment. When the people decided that Prohibition went too far, they repealed the amendment. A constitutional democratic republic at work.
And that is the way that drug prohibition should have been handled, but Washington DC and the drug warriors decided that it be too inconvenient to follow the constitutional process.
But if soccer moms are worried about their children becoming junkies and you believe that this is feeding the War on Drugs, do you really believe that suggesting that drugs should be legalized is going to address their fear?
Not as long as the Justice department keeps feeding them propaganda that all those drugs are going to jump out from behind every tree and parked car to addict their kids, maybe would realize that good, hands-on parenting has more to do with keeping their kids from getting high than increasing the DEA's budget.(Off topic, personally, I believe that those who push the "...for the children" mantra are a bigger threat to this country than cocaine ever will be)
First, many people actually do care about what other poeple do to themselves. I know that libertarians find this patronizing and offensive but that's life.
And on the 8th day, man created Nerf-World...
Second, when drug users lose the ability to support and care for themselves, they become everyone's problem and do harm those around them.
That was what the prohibitionists said in the 1920's. We didn't become a nation of drunks after the 18th amendment was repealed. But it did get organized crime out of the alcohol business...including the Kennedys.
If I don't desire the freedom to mess up my own life, what difference does it make? You can give me the freedom to shoot myself in the head but what good is that freedom if I have no desire to shoot myself in the head?
How much more freedom are you willing to give up? It might not mean that much to you, but I don't much like the idea of the feds mandating that the training wheels stay on my bike for my own good. If I take them off, I might fall down and get a skinned knee. Or not. I'm not a Libertarian or a drug user, but I don't have to be to know that I'm big enough to make my own choices about what I do to myself. Yes, I might make a mistake, but it will be MY mistake.
So it is "bad character" that makes people not realize that they should legalize drugs. Yeah, that argument will win you lots of support.
It's not a matter of bad or good charachter, but the level of stregnth of that character. Remember the old saying "Hard times make for strong character." Things were pretty hard in the depression. Maybe the next one will be just as useful ;)