Sure they are. You did not qualify anything. You said prohibition didn’t work. Perhaps you would like to clarify your original statement. Things and actions can be prohibited (and some things and actions should be). Some things are more difficult than others. I suspect drug prohibition has been a failure because very powerful people are behind keeping the drugs flowing.
I think all of those who make the case that the cartels will evaporate once drugs are legalized are naive beyond belief, btw. However, I’m not making the argument about whether or not pot should be legal It’s problematic either way because people, as a rule are stupid and short sighted.
I would be 100% for legalization if we could tighten up our criminal law, so that people caught doing real crimes were harshly punished, people driving under the influence were gotten off the roads and I was not on the hook to pay for rehab or medical care etc. Unfortunately when drugs are legalized (and I suspect pot and probably other things will be) it will just be another thing the rest of us will pay for in some way or another, which is why I am ambivalent.
I agree. I'm torn by this as a conservative libertarian. Philosophically, I lean towards decriminalization of most drugs. Up until the 20th century, there were very few drug laws in this country. This certainly led to health problems, but our 'war on drugs' clearly has not eliminated the health effects of drug use. I am also inclined to think that lessening the power and profits of organized crime and elements of the federal government, for whom drug illegality is the prime source, is desirable as well.
The problem is that the government would then serve as a drug provider instead of an anti-drug enforcer, which is probably worse. If marijuana were made legal, it would be regulated and heavily taxed. The federal government would then have an incentive to keep this tax revenue coming in. As others have said, legalizing marijuana simply would not be a 'live and let live' libertarian move in our political climate. It would result in more costs in the health care arena that would be borne, as ever, by taxpayers.
I also envision the poor service one encounters at the DMV, post office, etc. becoming even worse as many of the already incompetent state and federal workers would be free to chronically indulge in their free time...