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You got it all wrong, sport.

Why is it that the only argument these WOD mongers can make is to somehow impute some sort of drug self interest on the part of those of us that think the WOD is stupid?

For your info: my drug of choice is just beer. I happen to be enjoying one right now. A fine Red Hook ESB. I am not a threat to anybody just yet. I know some people who use other things (like pot) that also are no threat to anyone.

I know many more people who abuse alcohol that are a far bigger threat to general public than anything else. But that remains legal. Why? Because we figured out that the black market for alcohol created problems that were far worse than the drug itself. Crime. Murder. Gangs. In my mind those side effects are far worse. Al Capone wanted alcohol prohibition. It's what gave him his empire. That the "revenuers" and "G-men" stomped all over the constitution in order to fight that empire was of no consequence to him. Sure, they nailed him eventually, but others were more than happy to step into the void. Did the War on Alcohol make a dent in alcohol abuse? Hardly. Alcohol use was down some, but abuse was just as common. Alcoholics are funny that way. That something is against the law doesn't seem to bother them. Funny that.

But there's good news for you WOD types: Have no fear, drugs will never be legalized or decriminalized. There's way WAY too much money to be made by all sides of the war for that to happen. The inner city gang infrastructure that is eating away at the heart of our country must be supported. After all-- if certain drugs were legal it would totally kick the financial legs out from under the gangs. They wouldn't have the resources to attract new gradeschool gangbangers and they'd have to go out and get jobs. Local police and federal law enforcement budgets would suffer badly. Nobody wants that.

Cheer up. You're getting what you want. Easy availability of drugs, a cancer in the inner city, and nicely inflated government budgets with all those nifty no-knock warrants on the wrong houses thrown in for free! Enjoy...

I am not as against the WOD as you are in that post, though I think we have NO compelling reason to continue to enforce penalties on pot. I would vote to legalize it.

But that is the only one. We have to try to discourage and reduce the availability, and most important, the respectability, of hard drugs.

Meth, crack, crank, herion... those drugs are too devastating to be legitimized. Meth cannot be "tried". I firmly believe that. Right now, adults with any sense of being law abiding don't use them, because they aren't around them, and they aren't around them mostly because they are illegal and carry a heavy stigma. That stigma would dissipate with legalizaton. If they were being used at the next table at the local bar, would more people who are more willing to try it, particularly the young, get sucked down the pipe? - I think so.

Right now those drugs take some, those who are comfortable with both breaking the law and taking personal risks. I want to keep it that way.