Pat, how does legalizing drugs control it? It seems to me that it would be more out of control. There is a difference between alcohol and drugs. Usually, with alcohol, there is not an addiction problem (not 100% of course, as there are other factors that can cause alcohol addiction). Those on drugs are usually addicted within the first one or two tries. After that, it’s downhill, and many can’t get back. Also, drugs are so mind altering that many become insanely dangerous. Ever seen anyone on PCP? They’re uncontrollable. PCP is so dangerous, that if you touch it, you’re considered disabled. Should everyone have access to this stuff? How about meth labs? Should everyone have the right to build a meth lab? These things are so dangerous that entire houses have to be condemned and destroyed. The are incredibly explosive. You might argue that it could be manufactured commercially. Why buy it from the store when you can make it in the bath tub?
You can argue that drug users only hurt themselves. Wrong. They have an effect on everyone. Especially when they are high and driving. Ask anyone who has a relative killed by a person DUI on drugs. There are many persons who with out drugs are otherwise good people. Get them up on the dope, and they become a different person. Many lives have been lost in domestic violence cases because their loved ones get on the dope and in an insane rage mixed with the dope, off’d their significant other. Drugs take the place of brains, and create poor decisions.
If the war on drugs stopped today, a different war would continue. There would still be intense competition between dealers. The kind previously told about in which innocent victims get harmed. Commercially produced drugs would be quickly beat out by street dealers who can produce and sell drugs cheaper.
How is the war on drugs not working? There are million reasons to continue with it, but I have yet to hear a valid one for the discontinuation of it.