[ConservingFreedom]

One cannot be socially liberal on the policy side whilst being fiscally conservative. These are diametrically opposed philosophies.

In order to be socially liberal the policy maker has to extract largesse from the public coffer to promote said socially liberal programs.

How does, for example, "stop arresting people for selling, buying, or using marijuana" require extracting largesse from the public coffer?

Your example is a non-sequitur. Not enforcing laws

I meant, of course, stop arresting by repealing the underlying law - I focused on the arresting only to highlight the lack of extraction from the public coffer.

[jurroppi1]

You do have to admit though, that there will be some real societal costs to allowing more addicts to get an easy fix. I don’t believe for one minute that drug decriminalization (let alone legalization) will benefit society and outweigh the social costs of said policy.

I’m willing to be proven wrong on this point, but I have my doubts that free flowing drugs of all sort will provide a better socioeconomic trend overall.

No doubt the war on drugs has had a lot of negative unintended consequences and seems to enrich all the wrong people. I don’t know what the answer is, but more zombies doesn’t seem to be the trend we need.