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I know what Reagan said about marijuana in the late 1970`s. This is old news and has already been discussed here on FR before. The truth is, when Reagan was elected President, he increased the budget for the National Drug Control Policy, which is in direct opposition to the libertarian philosophy and the Libertarian Party platform. Btw, those budgetary increases in the federal govt`s drug efforts, contributed to the overall decline in drug use/abuse that American's have witnessed since 1979. If you took the time to read a book written by Reagan, like "Reagan in His Own Hand" and "Stories in His Own Hand", you would better understand this great American and you'd quickly find out you had little in common with The Gipper. Like I keep telling you fringe extremists, Reagan was a mainstream conservative, a loyal Republican and a pragmatic leader, who believed in political compromise to advance his conservative agenda.

Once again, ReaganMan, you totally miss the point. Reagan opposed the draft, on principle. And, apparently, he had certain principled objections to the War on Drugs. You claim that Reagan actually increased funding on the War on Drugs by massive proportions. Yet the purse-strings during his administration were controlled by the Demonrats in the House. You can't give him all the credit!
Secondly, you've consistently failed to point out WHERE, exactly, the US Constitution authorizes the federal government to conduct the War on Drugs. Congressional statutes don't cut it, since most of them are unconstitutional anyway. Are we libertarians missing something here?
Finally, you, ReaganMan, aren't much of a conservative if you're willing to support the use of government edicts in our personal and private lives. The REAL conservative--being for less government-- is willing to adopt a strategy of moral suasion to combat perceived social ills. That's the view I hold on the subject...and it's by far the conservative one.

Peter Krembs
Chairman
RLC-GA
http://www.GOPLiberty.org

"The truth is, when Reagan was elected President, he increased the budget for the National Drug Control Policy..."

"...Reagan was a mainstream conservative, a loyal Republican and a pragmatic leader, who believed in political compromise to advance his conservative agenda."

First off, I don't care whether Reagan advocated the legalization of drugs or not. I don't see how anybody (other than God himself) advocating legalization or criminalization of currently illegal drugs makes the policy any more or less logical. So, I'm not going to get wrapped up in the he-said-she-said of whether Reagan was in agreement with me or with Barry McCaffrey (though I would suspect McCaffrey).

I am just curious:
Given that Reagan believed in political compromise to advance his conservative agenda, how do you know that he was not compromising when he increased the budget for the National Drug Control Policy?

Was this in his book? If so, did you infer this, or did he actually write it?