[Antoninus]

The War-on-some-drugs is insanity. It has produced no measurable advantages unless you see the world through a fascist perspective and applaud the growth of government power, the destruction of the 4th amendment, and bankrolling of multi-national organized crime.

The argument here is ludicrous and could be applied to all crime, not just drug dealing/use. We spend billions of dollars fighting theft in this country. Yet people still steal. We spend billions of dollars fighting rape. Yet people still rape. We spend billions of dollars fighting murder. Yet people still murder.

Based on the logic of the drug legalization argument, we should simply legalize all of the above "intractable" problems and they simply go away. To an extent, that is true. Legalize drugs and the problem will go away--for drug users. The problems for the rest of society will explode, however.

BTW, have you seen this? Even the famously liberal Netherlands are retreating on their legal pot position:

Netherlands Marijuana Law: Dutch Government To Classify Marijuana As Hard Drug

[muir_redwoods]

I don't take constitutional guidance from Holland, thanks very much.

Your invideous analogy falls apart immediately. Crimes like rape and theft directly harm others; smoking or using poison, whether it's marijuana, crack or alcohol does not. Collateral damage can be dealt with within the legal system much as we do today with alcohol. The real gainers from prohibition are the fascists on the left who get to unconstitutionally expand government authority and power (a point you continue to ignore) and organized crime. Prohibition does not measurably affect usage; it only increases the cost.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

Even the famously liberal Netherlands are retreating on their legal pot position

Tiny Netherlands doesn't like the impact of 'drug tourism;' the USA is 230 times larger, so the impact here would be correspondingly smaller.