Legalize Freedom

You can't legalize drugs, because if you do there will be a lot of drug-related crime, and kids everywhere will have easy access to it. /sarcasm.

For those who have not watched it yet, I highly recommend watching the 3rd season of the HBO series "The Wire", which is actually set in Baltimore. While it is fiction, it provides a good perspective of what happens when drugs are legalized.

While I agree that there might be many good reasons to legalize and regulate drugs, there are certain questions that are difficult to answer. Are we sending a message to our kids that it is OK to take drugs, as long as you have money to take them? Are the down sides of drug addiction comparable to that of smoking or consuming alcohol? Are they not worse? If a kid beats the system and consumes a beer or two every now and then, the kids life is not irreparably damaged. Few rounds with Heroine or Coke, the answer may be different. Does that argument not hold any water? Maybe the case to legalize pot is much easier to make than other drugs. I don't know.

Hamsterdam was my first thought here too. I agree with VV though about availability. Regulated alcohol/tobacco are much more difficult for minors to obtain than are black market intoxicants.

Also, I don't see why "we" shouldn't send a message to "our" kids that it is OK to take drugs, other than that I don't think "we" should be sending messages at all.

So you think kids will have much easier access to drugs if they are legal? EASIER? Really?

And instead of sending a MESSAGE to your kids, just directly TELL them not to do drugs. No confusion there.

I don't absolve the parents of their responsibility to teach their kids whatever they believe is right. The point was for the society as a whole to reinforce that theme. Milton Friedman wrote in "Capitalism & Freedom" that there is a legitimate role for the government to play when it comes to protecting children and mad men. My comment was to see if a libertarian could make a reasonable argument about the government criminalizing drugs. Your comments, the implied sarcasm included, do not really provide additional logic to that argument.

The size of a black market is a good correlate with the evils of government.

This article is great. It has some flaws but it gets to the heart of what I think is the only way to convince people to legalize drugs. Drugs aren't good, and they are not good for society. But neither is the war on drugs. Two wrongs don't make a right and always err on the side of freedom.

Drugs are illegal because it is good business.
Think of all the cash and property that is confiscated from users and dealers.
Think of all the money it takes to house the prisoners.
Think of all the money spent on lawyers.
Think of all the fines.
Not to mention the power to search and detain people, or the anti-depressant industry, or the non-drug uses for the marijuana plant.

The Drug War is here to stay. Too many people would lose their livelihood if it were to end.

Rather, stop making freedom illegal!!! Prof. Boudreaux should be able to see the difference.

Unfortunately, common sense is not common.

Don't think I shall live long enough to see it happen.

First, the linked article keeps using the term unregulated to refer to the illicit drug market. This is not correct, the drug market is REGULATED. It is illegal to sell drugs, posses etc - that is the regulation. Deregulation by allowing the sale of drugs is the way to go. I live in Baltimore, and agree.

The steps should be to legalize pot, and decriminalize harder drugs such as heroin. Addicts can be given a choice, free heroin dispensed by a doctor, or drug treatment. The taxes raised by pot sales can pay for the drugs and treatment. The money saved in policing and jail can also be used to finance free drugs and treatment. Much money will also be saved in medical expenses that arise from needle infections such as aids, hep C etc...As those expenses end up hitting medicaid.