I don't think total legalization would solve anything from an economic standpoint. Keep in mind that even in the states that do legalize marijuana for 'medicinal' use, the pot is often pretty low-grade. Drug abusers are always looking for the quick fix -- the highest quality for the greatest possible high. There's no other social explanation for why some moron would be willing to inject black tar heroin into his forearm or smoke stuff that's been melted in a plastic spoon.
However, I do agree with you in the aspect that there are definitely two things that turn self-declared hard-line conservatives into liberals at the drop of a hat: drugs and tv/radio censorship. But then, we do have to stand for some degree of social decency, or we'll be left with the liberal "do it because it feels good" paradise.
Someone has to take a stand. But it does need to be a reasonable one.
Take a stand for liberty.
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." - Barry M. Goldwater
Nobody ever said a highly limited legalization would have any benefits (beyond those to patients).
Drug abusers are always looking for the quick fix -- the highest quality for the greatest possible high. There's no other social explanation for why some moron would be willing to inject black tar heroin into his forearm or smoke stuff that's been melted in a plastic spoon.
The idiots who drank bathtub gin druing Prohibition were nonetheless happy to switch to a legal regulated product when Prohibition was ended.
we do have to stand for some degree of social decency, or we'll be left with the liberal "do it because it feels good" paradise.
Government has neither the legitimate authority nor the practical capability of imposing "social decency."