Medication is regulated. Some medicines are sold over the shelf to anyone who wants to buy them. Some narcotics can only be prescribed by a licensed physician.
Regulations change, laws change, accepted medical practices and usages change.
With few exceptions, most of the posters on this thread attacking the "war on drugs" want our systems of drug regulations abolished entirely.
Do you ever tire of telling obvious lies?
Most of the posters on this thread attacking the "war on drugs" do not want our systems of drug regulations abolished entirely; -- this a verifiable fact to anyone who reads the thread.
You simply don't care about the truth anymore, do you?
I'd like to abolish the *requirement* to get written permission (a prescription) to purchase a drug. Yes, I'm totally self-interested in this, and I am utterly indifferent to the suffering that this change may cause to the less well educated. Several years ago, I had an attack of gout. The standard medication is colchicine, an extract of meadow saffron that has been in use for several thousand years. It cost me $45 to get permission to buy $5 worth of drugs. Maybe some of you Woddies can convince me that that was a good thing, I should be happy to be spending 900% more than I needed to because it's for the children or something.
I'd also like to abolish the *requirement* that new phrameceuticals need FDA approval before they're allowed onto the market. This foolishness cost at least several hundred thousand lives when it was used to delay beta blockers for several years.
I know nothing (except blind obedience) can satisfy the more rabid control freaks, but as a compromise with those who are merely gov't- and gov't-paycheck- addicts I'd allow the FDA to continue to exist, though strictly in an advisory role.