It's become pretty popular, especially among members of my generation, to be for the legalization of marijuana. Unlike most people in the movement though, I have never tried it. Never been inclined to and unless there is a drastic change in my disposition towards it, I'll probably die saying the same. So I don't support the legalization of weed because I want to get high. I support it because I support all freedom, even if it does not directly benefit me.
But I don't stop with just pot. I want it all legal. Shrooms, coke, LSD, K, you name it, it should be legal to use, possess, buy, and sell (with the right commercial license). Now I KNOW most people aren't cool with the this proposition, I can hear it now "You want HEROIN to be sold at grocery stores? That's crazy!". Maybe so, which is probably why grocery stores wouldn't sell it. But ultimately it comes down to that most essential, unquantifiable principle of America and Libertarianism. Freedom. If I want to shoot up, smoke a jay, do a line, or light up a cigar, that's a choice that starts, and ultimately ends with me. The law certainly won't stop me, because we wouldn't have people doing drugs now if it did.
But what about the after effects? Certain drugs might make people do illegal things right? Well yes, they might. Like driving a car through someones house into a childs room. Happened to a good friend of mine (I.E. someone drove into his house, luckily no one was hurt). The drug of choice? DUST OFF! Plain, fucking, over the counter cleaning products. You don't see a war on those do you? Why? Because that'd be dumb. Criminalizing misuse I can understand, because when you do something stupid that is harmful to others (you can do whatever you want to yourself), that's an essential infringement of THEIR rights. But in the end, prohibiting people from anything that might hurt others ultimately hurts everyone. It infringes on freedom first and foremost, and secondly, those who are inclined to be stupid, will be stupid. We've been stupid for around 100,000 years, I doubt a new law will cure that. And the only way to FIX stupidity, it to learn from it.
One special note before I close, and that deals with taxes. I know it's fashionable to say "regulate it and tax it" when dealing with pot, and I will be the first to say "go fuck yourself". Why should pot, or alcohol, or tobacco, or anything else that might be bad for you, be taxed specially? We already have a tax for items, it's the sales tax. Anything else is government trying to get its hands where it doesn't belong. Tax an item too much, and guess what? You'll get two things. First you'll get people doing illegal work arounds, like smuggling. And then you'll get people making new laws for this and that and every other exception under the sun so that actually trying to run thing effectively will be impossible. Instead of finding new ways to make money, the government ought to tighten its belt like the people it supposedly represents. But that's a rant for another day.
