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"will ultimately result in the downfall of our society"

Certainly you don't think that legalizing marijuana will make our society better or stronger, do you?

And if marijuana, then certainly the exact same case can be made for other "soft" drugs (nitrous, shrooms, Ecstasy, LSD, peyote, etc.). Can you justify legalizing marijuana without legalizing other soft drugs?

I guess it comes down to this. I have yet to see one good reason to legalize just marijuana.

"I have yet to see one good reason to legalize just marijuana."

Lemme give ya two...first, it'll free up law enforcement folks from having to deal with these petty, victimless crimes...second, it'll be just one more way we will have scaled back the size and scope of the Federal Leviathan. What Alaska does shouldn't impact Utah on this issue. let the States decide!!

FReegards...MUD

"I guess it comes down to this. I have yet to see one good reason to legalize just marijuana."

I think that right up at the top of the list would be that we'd take a massive multi-billion dollar illegal industry down and replace it with a regulated industry run by legitimate business people instead of criminals. Marijuana is absolutely without a doubt the backbone of the illegal drugs industry. That's where the brunt of the illegal drug money is being made. That's where the most of the massive drug distribution infrastructure is, on the back of which much of the other much more dangerous illegal drugs flow. The money being made is staggering, and the people getting rich are in many cases the worst kind of thugs.

Aside from taking the money from the criminals and funneling it to law abiding Americans, with regulation government would have at least some control over the marijuana industry and marijuana sales. As it is, the sales and the industry in general are entirely unregulated. Could we keep it away from kids in every case? Of course not, no more than we can keep beer and cigarettes from kids. Would there still be some black market? Sure, just like there is still some black market for moonshine. But the vast majority of the marijuana being sold would go through legal channels if those legal channels were opened up, and most being sold would be sold to adults who can produce an ID and it would be sold to them by tax paying legitimate retailers who don't also sell drugs like meth, crack, and heroin.

Now you were also saying something about how if pot was made legal then people would also want to legalize other "soft drugs" like LSD, peyote, and "magic mushrooms." Personally, I wouldn't call something like LSD a "soft" drug and I don't think most others would either. But I think you raise a legitimate point. These drugs are not addictive like meth and heroin. The fact that a high percentage of people who use drugs like meth, cocaine, and heroin with any regularity develop powerful addictions to these substances is the main justification for keeping them illegal because addictions to these drugs are just too destructive to those who use them and as these addictions take over people's lives all too often innocent people are harmed.

The way I look at it is that people should have the right to do whatever they want as long as they don't hurt other people without justification or create a significant risk of causing some substantial and unjustifiable harm to other people. I think most reasonable people can see that using super addictive drugs like meth and heroin that cause such a high percentage of users' lives to fall apart to the extent that they bring others down with them is conduct that is risky enough to the rest of us that banning this conduct is justifiable even in a free society. We may differ on how people who use these banned substances should be treated, but most agree that these substances should remain banned.

Drugs like LSD and "shrooms" aren't addictive though and those who do try them rarely use these drugs more than a few times if they use them more than once. These are very powerful mind altering drugs. They aren't regular weekend party fare for most who try them. But like anything else there are some who go crazy with these substances and use them quite frequently over long periods of time. Most of the few people I've known who have done that have never been quite been right after doing so. I've seen others use them once or just a few times and have some traumatic bad trip that changed them for the worse for life. This is rare, but it happens. These drugs can make people lose their minds. They can also produce a temporary state of insanity during a "trip" where people can become psychotic and violent and do horrible things. Again, this is rare, but it's a serious concern anyone who contemplates legalizing these substances should consider.

One other thing to consider is that prohibition of substances like LSD and "shrooms" does seem to be moderately effective. Prohibition can never be totally effective at making drugs impossible to get, but it can be fairly effective at making some drugs so difficult to get that many who might try them at some point in their lives will not have the opportunity to do so when they are so inclined. It can also be effective in reducing availability such that people who have tried a drug and enjoyed it will not have the opportunity to use the drug so often that it will cause them great harm that could lead to problems for those around them and society at large. This is only the case though with drugs for which there is little demand. If there is great demand for a drug, as is the case with marijuana, there will be sufficient monetary incentive to supply that demand. Consequently, there will always be ample supply on hand and the greater the supply the greater the number of suppliers and the opportunities for obtaining these drugs. Conversely, when demand is low, supply will be low as will the numbers of suppliers, making it much less likely that people will be able to obtain these drugs when the mood strikes them because those who supply illegal drugs aren't exactly advertising their wares making it easy for the public, including the police, to find them. But even if demand remained fairly low, if these drugs could be sold at even just one legal retail outlet in town anyone who wanted them could go at any time and purchase them.

Personally, I would be against any measure attempting to legalize these drugs. Prohibiting the sale of them does seem to be moderately effective at limiting availability and use. The market for them is relatively small anyway so legalizing them wouldn't deal much of a blow to organized crime. These drugs are not addictive so legalizing them would not reduce property crimes associated with addiction. Since so few people use these drugs there really isn't a great deal of friction between government and a large segment of our society over the laws regarding the drugs and enforcement of same. There really aren't many good arguments for making these drugs legally available to the general public. I think most people would agree that it would be better if we not increase availability of these drugs by selling them at the corner store to anyone who gets a wild hair and wants to try something new and exciting, or make it easier for people who have already done it and liked it to do it again and again until they fry their brains. If we did that along with the lunatic paint huffers and gas huffers that show up again and again in our courts charged with crimes involving antisocial conduct, we'd start getting nut-job acid heads who have permanently wrecked their brains as frequent flyers through our court system. The mental health problems, accidents, crimes and other antisocial behavior that would come along with increased use of these drugs wouldn't be worth whatever benefit we would get from legalization.

But I would be for laws though that would make it such that it is no longer a felony to be in possession of a personal amount of these drugs. I don't think people who experiment with these drugs are terrible criminals who should be branded with felony convictions for life. Most of the benefit that comes from prohibition if there is going to be any benefit at all comes from the fact that sale of the drug is forbidden. Much of the other nonsense that comes along with the "War on Drugs" approach seems to just cause more problems than it solves. Excessive punishment for doing nothing more than playing around a little with dangerous drugs is unwarranted, unnecessary, and unproductive.