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 When the people decided that Prohibition went too far, they repealed the amendment.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That was what the prohibitionists said in the 1920's. We didn't become a nation of drunks after the 18th amendment was repealed.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 ;)
Drugs are not the same as alcohol. The differences are real and significant. That said, I think a case can be made that marijuana is comparable in social effects to alcohol. I don't think the same case can be made for crack and heroin.
As for Nerf-World, there is always too much of a good thing. I can say, though, that I like having an FDA inspecting food and medicines so that I don't need to take the time to individually assess the safety of every bit of food or medicine that I put in my mouth. I do think, however, that there is room for "This isn't safe but we are going to let you do it anyway. Just don't come and sue us if you get hurt, sick, or die." Cigarettes fall into this category. But I don't think the solution is to eliminate the FDA and legalize everything, buyer beware. There were problems that led to these things being created. The problem is that safety, like taxes, falls on a sort of Laffer curve and at some point, the cost to increase safety any further is astronomical.