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I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I was in my teens when the first seat belt laws hit the books. My mother was up-in-arms and I didn't understand why. She explained it to me.

"The government is passing laws giving themselves the power to protect us from ourselves; not from each other; not from outside threats but from ourselves". Its been all down hill ever since. The issue with drugs is not the harm they due. The issue is our individual freedom to choose our own risks. The government has decided we're not allowed to do that.

People slowly kill themselves with Big Macs. People kill themselves with cigarettes. People climb vertical rock walls on mountains. People race cars. People fail to get enough exercise. People do countless things that are dangerous or detrimental to their own well being because they are free to do so - but in the case of drugs there is no civil liberty too minor to squash, no right too inalienable to ignore in the public interest of protecting you from yourself. These are all pretexts used to expand the power of the government against the citizens. Many drugs laws are TOTALLY politically motivated.