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I'm personally not a fan of drugs. I don't use them. I have smoked pot twice in my life and didn't like it each time. I will not do it again. I'll never touch the hard stuff. All I use now is caffine and smoke an occasional cigar and drink beer once in awhile.

My problem is government power.

1. What business outside of the borders, is the FEDS doing in this. If someone grows a pot farm in SW Michigan, why are the FEDS, who should not have juristiction, getting involved. When I think of the feds, I see too many WACO and RUBY RIDGE cases. BTW - Drugs were falsely attributed in Waco as well.

2. Forfeiture laws. In the name of the War on Drugs, people are losing their homes, cars and money...WITHOUT A CONVICTION. In many cases, affirmative defense is required to get it back. Affirmative defense is guilty till proven innocent, much like Ohio's CCW law now in the courts.

3. 2nd amendment rights. Many gun grabs were in the name of the WOD. "Drug dealers use that gun"

4. Secret Searches, no knock searches, etc. The ideas of the unPatriot Act came from that.

5. Mena Arkansas. The biggest drug dealers in the country IS THE COUNTRY. Specifically Bill Klinton and his friends like Dan Lasater and Dan Harmon.

6. Prohibition laws. It didn't work in the 20's, and it doesn't work now.

Now if a state wants drugs illegal, I don't have a problem with it at the STATE level. Leave the FEDS out of this though outside the borders, and let's quit attacking our FREEDOMS in the name of the war on drugs. Anyone that backs the affirmative defense stuff should be tarred and feathered. It's become a racket and big money for the govt, and that's my big problem.

You're mostly right up until the point on prohibition. Yes, tough laws against drug use have dramatically decreased usage. We now have 14 million monthly drug users. In 1979, there were 26 million drug users. The law deters crime and the tougher the law the more the deterrent.

In fact, legalizing marijuana in California dramatically increased all drug useage in the 1970s.

Be like the RR (Ronald Reagan) not like RR (Richard Riordan).

Reagan from 1986:

From the beginning of our administration, we've taken strong steps to do something about this horror. Tonight I can report to you that we've made much progress. Thirty-seven Federal agencies are working together in a vigorous national effort, and by next year our spending for drug law enforcement will have more than tripled from its 1981 levels. We have increased seizures of illegal drugs. Shortages of marijuana are now being reported. Last year alone over 10,000 drug criminals were convicted and nearlv $250 million of their assets were seized by the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration.

And in the most important area, individual use, we see progress. In 4 years the number of high school seniors using marijuana on a daily basis has dropped from 1 in 14 to 1 in 20. The U.S. military has cut the use of illegal drugs among its personnel by 67 percent since 1980. These are a measure of our commitment and emerging signs that we can defeat this enemy. But we still have much to do.

Despite our best efforts, illegal cocaine is coming into our country at alarming levels and 4 to 5 million people regularly use it. Five hundred thousand Americans are hooked on heroin. One in twelve persons smokes marijuana regularly. Regular drug use is even higher among the age group 18 to 25 most likely just entering the workforce. Today there's a new epidemic: smokable cocaine, otherwise known as crack. It is an explosively destructive and often lethal substance which is crushing its users. It is an uncontrolled fire.

And drug abuse is not a so-called victimless crime. Everyone's safety is at stake when drugs and excessive alcohol are used by people on the highways or by those transporting our citizens or operating industrial equipment. Drug abuse costs you and your fellow Americans at least $60 billion a year.