I am well aware of the bad consequences we have gotten from the "War on drugs." I am aware of the overreach and abuse. I am aware of the asset forfeiture laws, and various other anti-constitution anti-freedom aspects of it.
I think they have gone too far, and they need to cease doing many things that they have been doing in the last couple of decades.
But now I have to ask you, are you aware of the consequences of *NOT* fighting the "war on drugs"? Let us set aside the case of Marijuana for a moment and consider the case of Cocaine. Or Opium. Or Meth. Are you aware that there exists an example in history of a nation that legalized drugs? Do you know what the result was? It was an unmitigated disaster. It caused so much social and economic destruction that the form of government which this nation had possessed for several thousand years collapsed.
From what I can see of history, *NOT* having a war on drugs produces *FAR WORSE* consequences than having a war on drugs. Shouldn't we prefer the path of less human destruction?
America will be better off with marijuana decriminalized/legalized, and other very dangerous substances kept illegal (meth, heroin).
Perhaps this is true, but I am doubtful. I expect several things to happen if marijuana is decriminalized/legalized. I expect "the gateway effect" to increase usage of worse drugs. I expect the legal arguments used to justify Marijuana legalization will not be able to deny entry to drugs like crack, meth, opium, cocaine, heroine, etc. I expect Marijuana usage to increase and capture more and more of the population which doesn't currently use it (in the manner of a logistic growth curve) and I expect it will result in an increased dependency on government by a large segment of the toking class.
I expect it to initiate a further downward social and economic spiral and one from which it may be impossible to recover.
I think Marijuana is just the match which will eventually burn down the forest.
But I could be wrong. That's just what I see.