“It is easy to apply this argument to smoking a joint in your own home. That harms no one.”
I agree with you right up to the point where you step off your property stoned.
I think its also a libertarian principle to carry one’s own water.
Legalizing marijuana is going to come with costs born by taxpayers, just as alcohol currently does.
They are different drugs, so I guess as long as we’re all honest about the specific costs associated with that one that we will all be on the hook for, then how bad could legalizing marijuana be in a country with food stamps, 99 weeks of unemployment, and socialized medicine?
Really. How bad could it be?
There's nothing thereotically wrong with stepping off your property stoned as long as you don't put the lives of others at risk. Driving while stoned should be punishable by at least a year in prison, the same as driving while drunk.
I think its also a libertarian principle to carry one’s own water.
It is, and if we eliminated the massive cost of the WOD, we'd stop the process of giving non-violent drug users criminal records for what in many cases is a medical addiction. We don't treat alcoholics as criminals. We shouldn't treat other drug users as criminals as long as they are non-violent. People who commit crimes while under the influence of drugs should be subject to enhanced penalties.
Legalizing marijuana is going to come with costs born by taxpayers, just as alcohol currently does.
They are different drugs, so I guess as long as we’re all honest about the specific costs associated with that one that we will all be on the hook for, then how bad could legalizing marijuana be in a country with food stamps, 99 weeks of unemployment, and socialized medicine?
Really. How bad could it be?
We arrest over 800,000 people for marijuana-related offenses per year. The vast majority of these arrests are for simple possession. Legalizing the substance would save a ton of money and would more than make up for any increased costs. The only downside of legalization is the possibility of additional addicts (although I've never seen any evidence that marijuana is physically addictive like alcohol can be). As Milton Friedman said, however, I'm willing to accept the possibility of additional addicts. What I'm not willing to accept is the idea that innocent people will be injured in drive-by shootings by drug cartels that only exist because of a black market created by our drug laws. And it's not just innocent Americans that are being killed (whether it's by cartels or by law enforcement in Special Forces-type raids). The War on some Drugs is also responsible for thousands of Mexican civilians that have been killed since 2006. The Mexican drug cartels exist to satisfy the incredible American demand for marijuana, among other drugs (but mostly marijuana). As Friedman went on to note, if you look at the War on Drugs from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel.
You should watch this Thomas Sowell youtube video discussing the folly of the war on drugs. I assume you have heard of him: