[TopQuark]

We are in agreement; I never said that it is the role of the government to control the values. In fact, I stated the opposite. I do not think that legalization is an answer, however.

[LloydofDSS]

Lets try and simplify the problem. Suppose 100 people live on an island by themselves. A few poeple, say 10 have discovered that smoking pot makes them feel good. The other 90 people have been told by their leader that pot is dangerous and harmful, so they propose to put the 10 potheads in a stockade.

Now is there any burden of proof on the 90 that pot really is harmful? Or can they just arbitrarily use their "majority" power to imprison their neighbors?

It seems to me that any time we propose to imprison a group of people for any reason, we have a very high burden of proof to show that the behavior is in fact very very harmful to those who do it.

The very fact that people freely choose to smoke pot is evidence to the contrary, so the burden is even higher.

[tacticalogic]

We are in agreement; I never said that it is the role of the government to control the values. In fact, I stated the opposite. I do not think that legalization is an answer, however.

If you look at the history of marijuana prohibition, it is clear that this was an exercise in government attempting to control the values. Do you want that precedent to stand?