Who says that small-l libertarians don't want to get rid of the social welfare state, at least, at the federal level?
Social welfare and combating drug abuse are not among the constitutionally enumerated powers of the federal legislature, and as such, per the Tenth Amendment, are powers exclusively reserved to the individual States and to their citizens.
Yeah, I know... but Libertarians make a great mistake attacking social issues against conservatives before winning any economic ones against liberals. The government has an incentive to legalize drugs so they can tax it. It is an easier fight. Have you found an incentive for the federal government to get smaller?
Not precisely true, FRiend. The federal government does have the right to control import/export into the country, and also interstate trafficking, so there is a proper role for the federal government in defining contraband.
That being said, I will meet you in the middle, and agree that the federal government has far out-stepped it's boundaries wrt the WOD. I will agree with the libertarians that states rights and private rights have been lost in the process, and need to be restored.
But I will still remain against the notion of legalizing all drugs, or a panoply of 50 different definitions, which would make interstate enforcement impossible. Some reasonable middle ground must be found.
I find the libertarian view to be short-sighted in this regard, as what one endorses, one will invariably get more of.
Who will pay for the increase in drug use? Crime will go up, legal or not... drug users cannot afford meth now, which is fairly reasonable to buy... but the nature of their addiction makes them useless as workers, so they steal for their fix. That will not change if their drug is legal. But since they cannot be processed by the system for their drug use, they will remain on the streets until caught actually committing a burglary.
And who will support the increase in unwed mothers and addicted children? More grist for the welfare system. What of all the illegitimate children pumped into the system?
Legalizing drugs will not make things better. It will make things predictably worse. And they are bad enough already.