What an arrogant presumptuous person you are. And I might add unjustifiably so. You call me a do-gooder because I don't like or agree with your point of view. You're the one adamantly defending drug usage while at the same time piously claiming to be drug-free. I am clear about who I am, which is a person that lost a family member to one of your spiritual brethren who was also exercising his freedom to use drugs. Jail time for the perpetrator did not bring my relative back. So I guess your solution didn't or doesn't really do the trick for me. But I'm truly sorry that you mistakenly think that I'm harming you with my beliefs. It was never my intent to commit such a heinous act on another human being such as your esteemed self.
I'm not defending drug use. I'm defending personal responsibility. I have no right, either on my own or through a government proxy, to force you to conform to my standards of sobriety. What you do to yourself is your business and no one else's.
I'm very sorry for your loss, but violating the rights of others won't bring your loved one back. Tell me, would he be somehow less dead if he'd been abusing a legal substance, such as alcohol? And how was he helped by our existing drug laws? Odds are he wasn't helped one bit.
Was he a minor when he started using? Illegal dealers have this annoying habit of selling to minors. A legal vendor could be required to check ID as is done with alcohol and tobacco sales.
Did he die of an overdose? Illegal dealers also have the annoying habit of being careless with how they prepare their merchandise. They also sometimes lie about what it even is. Legal dealers wouldn't have that option. Labeling laws apply to vendors of legal products as do food and drug purity laws. Adding insult to injury, you can't sue an illegal vendor who sells you poison instead of a narcotic.
Drug laws do nothing to protect us. Users are going to abuse drugs whether they're legal or not. The rest of us get to have our rights violated in a vain attempt to protect some people from themselves. Is it reasonable that the government should monitor your bank transactions looking for drug money? That cold medications should be under lock and key? Are you safer in an environment where competing drug gangs get into shootouts on public streets defending their turf? Are you safer when drug users commit crimes to pay artificially inflated prices for their fix? (When was the last time a little, old lady got knocked over the head for a pack of cigarettes?) Are you safer in a world where billions of dollars get shunted out of legal commerce and into criminal and terrorist organizations?
How are any of us helped by these laws?