[Rocksalt]

"I've seen people around me go down the tubes from the effects of alcohol use; is that a good reason to ban alcohol?"

Different substances-As I've asserted before,It's obvious alot more people use alcohol responsibly than Heroin and Crack.

"More liberal rhetoric: 'you don't care.' I say it's wrong to restrict the freedom of ALL adults because SOME adults use that freedom to harm themselves."

But are some restrictions worth it when talking about the lives of teen-agers and children?

"No majority has the ethical authority to tell any adult what he can put in his own body."

Yeah but who defines ethical authority?

[MrLeRoy]

It's obvious alot more people use alcohol responsibly than Heroin and Crack.

So how do you determine the cutoff point at which substance X's ratio of irresponsible use to all use makes it properly bannable? And where is the ethical justification for drawing such a line at all---who has the authority to protect adults from their own bad choices?

are some restrictions worth it when talking about the lives of teen-agers and children?

Providing drugs to minors should be illegal. But as I have shown, it is illegitimate to ban things for adults because they're dangerous for children: alcohol, kitchen knives, etc. are all dangerous for children.

who defines ethical authority?

Natural law. As a reasoning free-willed being, an adult human is capable of formulating and pursuing his own ends, so nobody else has the right to dictate his ends to him.