In my opinion? I believe that the legality or illegality of drugs should be handled at the state level, barring a constitutional amendment. I think that the role of the Federal government should be to regulate the trade in substances made illegal by the various states. Is that a terse enough answer for you?
Since nothing is ever done half-way forever, this is going to resolve itself in a generation by either the drug war being abandoned or the establishment of an all-out police state.
I think this assertion is false. Almost every law we have is done "half-way" and does not inevitably get abandoned or result in a police state. That crime exists in almost all areas suggests that no law can be 100% effective. Abuses occur when people expect 100% enforcement. Don't feed that beast, because if you make the only two choices 100% or 0%, people will pick 100% on you and then you'll have your police state.
Either way, the drugs are still going to be here on the streets, in the boardrooms, in private homes and even in the jails where we put people to keep them from dealing.
And? We've got laws against theft, rape, and murder and these things still go on in the streets, in private homes, and in the jails. Are you suggesting that we should make these things legal?
Terse, enough?...yes. But IMO, the federal government doesn't have any business enforcing state laws.
I think this assertion is false. Almost every law we have is done "half-way" and does not inevitably get abandoned or result in a police state.
We're not talking about just one law here. It's a cabinet level office, a federal agency, and a large part of the Justice Department as well as whole gaggle of over-reaching laws and federal regulations. One law can be dealt with, but this has become firmly entrenched and grown throughout the much of the federal government. And it grows every year. IMO, if it keeps growing, it WILL bring about a police state if left unchecked, especially since these agencies know how easy it is to scare the nit-wit soccer moms into believing that if it doesn't get bigger every year then their kids are going to become junkies.
We've got laws against theft, rape, and murder and these things still go on in the streets, in private homes, and in the jails. Are you suggesting that we should make these things legal?
Ye Gods, not that straw man argument again. No, it's not about making murder and rape legal as a means of reducing crime. That's up there with not giving out grades in school to decrease the dropout rate. There are laws against murder and rape because those two actions violate the rights of others. There is no victim in drug use other than the person using the drugs possibly harming themselves. If drug users want to ruin their lives, fine, that is their right. That is the risk of freedom. This isn't Nerf-World, where all the sharp edges have been rounded off and padded for our own protection. If you are not free to mess up your own life, how free are you? How can you truely be the master of you own fate? This was tried in the 1920's and it failed miserably. But at least those particular "drug warriors" respected our Constitution enough to do it the right way, via the amendment process. It was a testimate to the character of the country at the time when they realized that they made a mistake, admitted it and repealed that amendment. That is the stregnth of character that this country needs to find again.