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This entire thread is for drug libertarians, got that. For the record, I believe certain drugs were made illegal for a reason, mainly due to destructive effects upon the user.

FWIW I was subject to random urinalysis for thirty plus years active & reserve military. I don’t do the stuff so I came up cold every time.

Question: what effect would across the board legalization-with-taxation have on just one segment of illegal drugs, which is crystal meth? Would the meth labs wither on the vine? Would living skeleton meth users just disappear?

Just curious.

Would living skeleton meth users just disappear?

One of the (usually unstated) assumptions of the drug warriors here on FR is that America is just chock full of would be drug users who are only deterred by the law.

That if drugs were decriminalized, everyone up and down your block - and mine - would rush out to stone themselves into a frenzy or a stupor (depending upon the chemical of choice).

I don't buy that argument, and I submit that if this is true, we have a much bigger problem in this country than whether or not some drugs are illegal.

To your point, if we legalized meth, my guess is that over time the percent of Americans who are meth users might go up, or go down, by a statistically insignificant amount.

This entire thread is for drug libertarians, got that. For the record, I believe certain drugs were made illegal for a reason, mainly due to destructive effects upon the user.

If it was only about destructive effects, alcohol and cigarettes would have been banned long ago, although some are making a run at banning both or at least shutting them out of mainstream America. I've known far more people that destroyed their lives with alcohol and presecription drugs than illegal drugs. Look at President George W. Bush - he had his driver's license suspended for two years for drunk driving - that could have very well ended his political career before it ever started. Not everybody is fortunate enough to turn their lives around after something like that. He was fortunate enough to meet the right woman and have a supportive family - many go the opposite way and lose their marriages and families.

FWIW I was subject to random urinalysis for thirty plus years active & reserve military. I don’t do the stuff so I came up cold every time.

I was as well, but if the WOD was truly a war, then it's been one spectacular failure, because drugs are still just easy to get. The only visible result is a militarized civilian police force.