“We cannot legislate morality ..”
I understand what you mean here but aren’t all laws simply the legislation of morality? Is not a murder charge the judicial enforcement of one of the Ten Commandments?
Partially right. In some respects, all of our laws are the product of morality -- the PERSONAL morality of those legislators who write them. Our rights come from God, however, not from elected legislators. Murder is contradictory to core Judeo-Christian values. Using marijuana or alcohol, for example, does not. Using them to excess so that you are no longer a functional member of society does, but that is hardly the role of government to step in and punish the responsible users because of the comparatively few people that need to be protected from themselves. I don't have any problem with people who disrespect laws made by imperfect men that have no basis in our moral tradition. I don't use drugs, but people who use drugs responsibly are making an important statement.
This is a very logical point. You are correct, in that law is fundamentally nothing more than morality codified into a system of measurement and punishment.
When people say 'You can't legislate morality', what they really mean is that 'You can't make people virtuous through the law alone.'
The moral code not to murder may be written in stone, and if I kill my hated neighbor, I'll go to jail. If jail is the only reason my neighbor still lives, that's fear of punishment, not an internalized sense of virtue.
If I would not kill my hated neighbor, even if murder was legal, because I believed that murder was wrong, then virtue carries the day, even if the legislated morality of the law is absent.
The law can punish individuals for drug possession, but in many communities, it's not considered immoral to sell or do drugs. The prevailing social sentiment is that it's a good way to make money or feel better. The morality of the law can't be pushed onto those communities.
It's the same reason that I'm happy to drive 90mph in the desert, even if the speed limit is 65. I don't really care what the law says in that circumstance. I don't find the morality of the legislature compelling. That said, I'd still drive by a school with kids running around at 10mph, even if there were no laws and no signs. In a lot of cases, the morality of the state is out of synch with the prevailing morality of it's citizens.
SoCal, I don’t think we can legislate the moral failures in these particular offenses.
I firmly believe that government is poor parent, and your parent’s ethics and mores will define you much better that government telling you, “No you SHALL not put that in your body.” At most government should treat adults like adults, and perhaps warn them there are physical and mental consequences to drug abuse. And then stay out of people’s lives on the matter.
Murder, if not legislated directly, would still be a mala in se crime. Narcotics abuse, I am not convinced of that.
You’re right on that one. Except for morality, stealing is just a simple property transaction.
The gist being: Laws do not change hearts.
Murder is denying another their natural right! The prohibition of the use of any commodity that will not harm others is tyranny!