It’s Time to Legalize Drugs

America’s second attempt at prohibition has been even more harmful than our first.  I think legalizing adult consumption of all narcotics and hallucinogens and whatever else people take will do much more good than harm for both America and the world as a whole.

Marijuana (I inhaled), alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are the only “recreational” drugs I have any personal experience with.  I doubt if that menu would be different if the laws were different.  I’m afraid of mind-altering drugs.  I wouldn’t recommend marijuana to anyone and it’s obvious that alcohol can be and nicotine almost always is dangerous.  Nevertheless, I think we do more harm than good by outlawing marijuana, heroin, crack, LSD, meth, and all the other things I’m too old to have heard of.

Afghanistan is once more becoming a poppy-growing powerhouse.  Unless the present government is prepared to be as dictatorial and ruthless as the Taliban, poor people are not going to stop growing a lucrative crop that feeds their families.  But, as long as the cultivation of poppies is illegal, the enormous middleman profits will go to outlaws – warlords in this case.  Making opium illegal makes it much more profitable than it would be if it were legal – and assures that the profit stays in exactly the wrong hands.

Al-Qaeda is partially drug-financed.  The war on terror is a necessary and expensive war.  We can’t afford both it and the moribund “war on drugs”.  More importantly, the war on drugs creates enormous financing opportunities for our opponents in the war on terror.

In Central America the “wrong hands” are both right-wing and left-wing private militias.  Nominally ideological, these are really gangs of thugs providing high priced “protection” to farmers, reaping huge profits as middle-men, and terrifying and corrupting every level of government.  In Bolivia a left-wing, irresponsible, anti-American government has come to power in a large degree because of understandable peasant resentment of a right-wing, elitist, pro-American government that burnt their coca crops.

The “wrong hands” reach across the world.  The gangs that terrify American cities and are spilling out into the suburbs are the end of the distribution chain that starts in Afghanistan, Columbia, and Bolivia.  Drug money corrupts our cops just as it does police around the world.  Drug kingpins (until they die) are the too-obvious success stories on the mean streets where there aren’t happy endings. Motorcycle gangs support themselves with meth labs.  This is all sadly similar to Al Capone’s Chicago.  Some lessons apparently have to be learned twice.

Keeping criminals in jails has reduced violent crimes – and I’m for that.  But there’d be a lot more room without building more prisons if we weren’t locking up drug users and sellers.

Because drugs move through a huge criminal infrastructure, we can’t control their quality nor can we stop the criminals from selling to kids.  Legal but regulated (and taxed) drugs should be available for sale to adults.  To me that means people over 18 but that’s a different argument for a different post. There should be severe penalties for selling drugs to people under 18 and draconian penalties for selling them to anyone under 14.  I think we can be more successful than we are today at keeping drugs out of children if the drug trade is in the open.  I don’t think the teeny-bopper market can finance a huge criminal infrastructure by itself.

The end of alcohol prohibition did not result in a huge increase in alcoholism even though street prices came down.  I don’t think that the end of drug prohibition will result in a significant increase in drug addiction. Getting drugs out into the regulatable open may help us deal with abuse, contaminated supply, and use by minors. It will certainly end the argument over clean needles to prevent the spread of AIDS.

In the end, adults who want to destroy themselves will.  There is no reason to make them overpay and deal with criminals to buy their poison.  There is no reason other than the illusion of doing good to make drugs so profitable for criminals and terrorists.

If we want to redress the balance between growing poppies and growing coffee in Afghanistan, we need to make the poppies legal; that will lower their price on the world market. Ditto for Coca in Bolivia.

We can’t ban “sin”.  In trying to, we just make the trade more lucrative.  It’s time to regulate other drugs as we do alcohol.  And time to put the enormously dangerous and destructive illegal drug trade out of business.

Comments

[sick of it]

Good Day, Mr Fascist.

This letter is directed to the fascist right-wing body of the United States Government and to all nations who bend to its will and heed its call to engage in the ridiculous "war on drugs", which, should bear the name "war on the people, the rights of the people, the truth, and the plants and animals of nature". I call upon the foreign governments of the world to defy the United States and their demands to spread the policy and lies of the USA. The 20th and 21st century United States of America is anything but a leader - and anyone who accepts its leadership is anything but diligent. All things of the last decade considered, it is hard to believe that anyone still wants to immigrate here. The freedoms we bragged about for so long are gone, the liberty and protections from government abuse have evaporated into a cloud of propaganda and paranoia, and this nation has created enemies from every corner of the earth through their own ambitious drive to reshape the entire world around our “model” of government and values – exactly the kind of fascist control which we have waged war against many others for, exactly the kind of absolute control which we rebelled against England for ... so where the hell did we go so desperately wrong ...

"War on the people" says it all. It is best illustrated by 25% of the world prison population being in the United States, with greater than 50% of these convictions being for "victim-less", non-violent drug offenses, while the USA only lays claim to 5% of the world population. The remaining less than 50% of the US prison population is a mix of the few truly twisted and criminal minds, and people who have committed criminal acts against other because of the nature of drug use. It is argued by, along with many others, professors, politicians, and law enforcement officers who see firsthand the effects of the war on drugs, that this "nature of drug use" would be much more benign socially and a large portion of the remainder of the criminal population in prisons would not be so, if the drugs were not controlled by criminals and inflated in price by tens of thousands of percentage points. Yes, this is a war on the people, a war against freedom loving people, in the interests of others who do not cherish freedom or liberty. People who are found to have illegally used or possessed drugs, and thereby victimized by the government, do their time, and have paid their "debt to society", but are further victimized by denial of their rights to vote, government resources, various employments, government aid and services, and other resources. Is this the US idea of rehabilitation and human rights? Whatever the intention, it is a guaranteed way to ensure that most people convicted NEVER rehabilitate - because now they are forced underground, treated less than human, and de-privileged and dis-empowered. The people who would not agree with the agenda of the government are denied the right to vote, thereby guaranteeing the status quo. This leads to a vicious cycle of cause and effect. One of the US DEA's most publicized measures of how effective the war on drugs is, is the cost of a drug. If they cause the price of a drug to skyrocket then they feel successful. But, what are they really doing? Their "success" is directly measured by costing addicts their entire life and everything they own, and transferring this money to the hands of contras, rebels, terrorists and other criminal elements. Here are a few real value comparisons to illustrate how the US government is basically handing power, wealth and prosperity to criminals and drug gangs:

Cocaine, 'street' level: $3,000+ per ounce
Platinum: $1,230 per ounce
Uranium Hexaflouride: $946 per ounce
Gold: $635 per ounce
Enriched Uranium Oxide: $410 per ounce

Cocaine, est production cost: between $5 and $20 per ounce

So, its fairly obvious what the government drive against cocaine has done to its illicit market. They have given it the will, money, and the power, to become undefeatable and left this power, without competition, in the hands of criminal elements. They have created a monster at the expense of “we the people”, both figuratively and literally, and they refuse to admit it. Ending this insanity, and allowing safe production and sales of drugs to consenting adults, is the only way to end the blight which the ill judgment and political agendas have created, but this is not going to happen until the powers in control are either removed or get a big dose of humility. They could not accept defeat in Vietnam, they refuse to accept failure in Iraq – they are surely never going to accept the fact that they cannot force the people of the United States to stay sober, and as long as there are people who want it, there WILL be people who produce it. You cannot chose morals for us anymore than you could chose morals for homosexuals. Which, brings me to another point – this writer is not a gay-hater in any way, what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home is their own business, but I would surely rather see a boy smoke some pot than have sex with other boys. As is, the government and the outspoken small sectors of society advocate the protections of homosexuality, denounce any “education” that would tell children that homosexuality is wrong as hate speech and are even trying to pass federal laws to that affect as I write this – BUT they demonize and condemn anyone who smokes a joint. This, in no uncertain terms is defining “right and wrong” and telling the children of today that its good to be gay and bad to smoke pot – that its BETTER to be gay than it is to smoke some weed. Is this the message you want to send to the next generation? Is this what we want for a legacy?

"War on the rights of the people" is defined by the contradictions between the US constitution's bill of rights, and the drug laws and enforcement. The US constitution guarantees us the right to be secure in ones person, property and papers, but the war on drugs mandates that government agencies at all levels use high-tech spying to see whats going on inside people's homes, "searches" of "papers" to track money trails in an attempt to determine drug activity, and searches of cars and persons without warrant. When they enacted prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th century, they recognized that the constitution did not give them this power, so the “law” was ratified as an amendment to the constitution by 2/3 agreement in congress, to make the law valid and legal. The law was repealed by the same process. But in later years, the government has simply re-interpreted the constitution and claim that they have the right to tell us what we can and cannot put in our own bodies, based on the commerce clause. Sure, the administration appointed judges will nod and agree, its their job to do so. Basically the entire bill of rights has been nod and agreed away in the same manner, bit by bit. They claim the power, the judges agree, and they just avoided what would otherwise be a valid federal lawmaking process, with the much greater requirement ratification. The Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act of 1986 basically states that unless the FDA has said something is fit for human consumption, it is illegal for a human to consume it. Any consumption of any substance with intent or otherwise to produce affects even remotely related to an illegal drug is explicitly illegal. Why are they so afraid of anyone catching a "buzz" other than on alcohol, with its deadly and malevolent affects? Most drugs that are illegal are actually far less socially destructive than alcohol, and much less disease-causing than tobacco, so what exactly is it that they are afraid of about drugs? Now the FDA wants also, control of anything that can possibly be used to treat anything, including water, if it is given to treat dehydration. The United States government is out of control and needs to be put to rest. In no uncertain terms, the US Constitution has been described and related to publicly as an "obstacle" to government agenda, even as high as Bush in the White House. These people are undermining the very heart of American belief, and the principals upon which this nation was formed. Remember, the Boston Tea party was the result of way less than this.

"War against the truth" was evident from the beginning, but unfortunately there was a day and age when the people blindly trusted the United States government, and did not question its "wisdom" and "integrity" - a fatal mistake, because, by the time the US government had become so insidious, its integrity had also gone to hell. The war on drugs actually began long before it was declared a war by Nixon, Reagan, and subsequent leadership - these people are just political puppets using the publicity of the war on drugs as a political tool. It really began back in the early 20th century when cotton was the main crop of the south (which was economically threatened by government mandates encouraging private citizens to voluntarily grow hemp), and smoked recreationally by primarily Mexicans (whom the state representatives wanted sent home). The government has gone before congress with testimony that cannabis caused people to become homicidal, rapists, schizophrenic, and that users could magically survive multiple bullets from police. The government reports indicated that cannabis use would make people go completely crazy, their hair would fall out and they would go on rape sprees after killing their families. This argument was accepted by congress and the courts, and testimony to the contrary by dozens of real scientists was disregarded. Marijuana was prohibited. Other drugs quickly followed suit, based primarily on lies, including the mass propaganda against LSD in the 60s and 70s, all the while the US government was testing these compounds on unsuspecting citizens in bars, etc. The results of these test were fairly predictable - the victims freaked out. Most people probably would suffer a great deal of trauma and stress suddenly being overwhelmed by the effects of massive doses of LSD and not knowing why, kind of like the idea of falling asleep safe and sound in your warm bed and waking up at 90mph on a roller coaster - it will scare the hell out of the victim. Remember - these people did not KNOW they were being influenced by a drug. In more recent years, people have begun to realize that the government lied to the people about the effects of marijuana, LSD and other drugs – akin to the multitude of weapons of mass destruction which did not exist in Iraq. People have come to realize that everyone was duped by the United States and its criminal agendas - but as yet, no one wants to bring the USA to account for the lies, deception, and violations of Constitutional law. Now is the time for the people to demand that mistakes be corrected, lies be admitted and the government answer for the crimes committed over the decades. The United States didn't only lie and deceive to get their way, they also suppressed and still suppress real, scientific information which does or would conflict with the US agenda against drugs. One of my favorite cases of blatant suppression was the World Health Organization study into the risks and benefits of cocaine versus the results and effects of the war on drugs. Scientists and researchers from 22 nations spent 6 years on this study, and when it was ready and complete, they distributed literature as a preview of their findings. The United States immediately took issue with the findings, because the findings did not support US propaganda, and threatened to end all funding of the world health organization if they released the findings of the study - case closed - the truth was silenced by a few words from US politicians. I call upon the United Nations, and World Health Organization to finally call to task, the insult and threats dealt to them by the USA and release their findings from the 90s, and demand an apology directly from the White House. In further attempts to suppress truths, the United States has given jurisdiction to the FDA to decide who will be allowed to research illicit drugs, including marijuana. This right to pursue knowledge and further science has only been given to one laboratory - a government research lab. The reason for this is quite simple, actually - because research from entities other than the United States government has been far from favorable to the war on drugs. The government NEEDS to control what the people think and know, in order to achieve their goals – if the people knew the truth about Iraq, we would have never gone in there, and if the people were told the truth about drugs this would be a very different world. For example, a 2006 report in the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research has shown that a compound of marijuana is as effective and probably safer as a treatment for various psychotic conditions than even the 10 and 20 dollar per pill synthetic anti-psychotic drugs being produced by United States pharmaceutical companies, and that this drug's presence in marijuana actually prevents negative manifestations of marijuana use. Other research has shown that there are drugs in marijuana which can actually prevent or TREAT cancer, which again is the sole realm of high-dollar pharmaceutical companies in the USA (unsuccessful, as they are). One does not really need to wonder why the government of the United States does not want any marijuana research going on without governmental prejudice.

"War on plants and animals of nature" is evident in laws, policies, and government activities involved in their attempts to eradicate drugs of every sort, short of "Explicit approval or exemption from the FDA". US tax dollars have been spent spraying poisons over the villages of South America and other places to try and wipe out Cannabis and Coca, and paid for training and supplying rebels to overthrow their governments who allow drug production within their own sovereign nations. Our government is guilty of decades of crimes against humanity and violations of international law, in the name of this "war on drugs". When an animal species was identified which contained a "new" psychoactive tryptamine (tryptamines are relatively 'safe' hallucinogens, some of which are produced naturally in the body, or are analogues of such drugs), the government took measures to restrict access and eradicate this animal species. This policy, and the policy of spraying poisons to kill something as harmless as cannabis, leaves hundreds of plant species, and maybe dozens of animal species vulnerable to permanent eradication and extinction attempts by the United States of America - the land of the free and the home of the brave - the den of passive subjugation.

"The war on drugs" has been nothing but a deviceful tool for the government to use to meddle and interfere in things they otherwise could not control, and to chip away at the constitution, who's very principal is seen as an obstacle to any “good” fascist government. The twist to this story is, however, that the most outspoken anti-drug administrations of the United States have been implicated, some provably, to be involved or deliberately complicit in drug trafficking, where it suits their needs. For example, in the 80s, the entire contra ordeal was a manipulation by the US government to undermine another sovereign state. The USA destroyed crops of competitor drug producers, because "drugs are bad", all the while, deliberately and intentionally allowed the contras to move their cocaine into the United States and sell it within the cities. The end goal of this was to provide indirect funding to the criminals of another nation, so that they can overthrow their government - a government which was at odds with the United States policy. This constituted criminal activity on every level - local, state, federal and international laws were all violated. But, on the other side of this coin, should politicians or otherwise who do not wish to exploit the power of illicit drug trade, speak out and say that its time to end this insanity – they are labeled as drug users, and unfounded allegations of drug trafficking are hurled in their face to silence them. Add to this blatant abuse of the law, the origin of the laws, and you will see dramatic abuse of government power over the entire 20th century - the marijuana laws were the result of USA wanting a way to indiscriminately deport Mexicans and the cocaine laws were because black men used cocaine as a result of it being provided by their enslavers, and the police claimed they were scared of the “superhuman Negro men under the influence of cocaine" .. so began the propaganda about drugs creating super-human, uncontrollable, deadly, murdering, rapist criminals.

"Failure". In the wake of law after law, and attack after attack, drug use has not even begun to subside. It is alive, and well and nothing the government can do will ever change this. A very large cross section of the American people want drugs - so drugs they will have, no matter the expense or the lengths they are forced to go, to get it. The United States has even gone as far as to presume to be the police of the entire world, and still cant even stop the bulky, smelly loads of marijuana. Hundreds of tons of cocaine get seized and they have not even touched the tip of the iceberg, and where is all the money for these drugs going? To criminals, rebels and terrorists - because of the actions of our government. But rather than admit defeat, and allow legal companies and jobs to be created to reap a much more reasonable profit from these markets, each new president promises a renewed "war on drugs" with all new strategies and promises, but in the end, all they do is spend a fortune and cost citizens dearly. Admit it, der furher, you lost this war before it even started - you simply aren't done with it as a tool yet. The drug war was not even designed to be “won”. It is disgustingly obvious that the DEA, FDA, and the office of the so-called drug czar are very self-defensive and self-serving. They lobby against even local level drug law reform/repeal in order to substantiate and perpetuate their own usefulness, so do you honestly think they would want to work themselves out of a job and actually eradicate the world of drugs? And then there is the squeeze effect – each time the powers to be squeeze one place, the drugs, quite predictably, ooze out somewhere else, or manifest in a different manner. Each "target" that the USA takes on, simply pushes the drug market elsewhere, and its almost always worse than if they had left things alone. For example, posed with the threat of the US government actually managing to somehow end importation of natural drugs, those who want to maintain access to drugs find ways to create the synthetically. Case in point, methamphetamine. Meth is one truly evil drug, but the only reason it came to such interest is because the much preferable and safer, but also much more expensive cocaine, (ergo meth's nickname “poor mans cocaine”) is imported and the United States wants to put an end to that now that they no longer need the contras. Meth is synthetically made, so there is no need to import it - border protections are thereby defeated. So, the USA makes the primary precursor for meth (P2P) illegal. The people responded by finding a different and much more dangerous way to make it from ephedrine, using an ammonia reduction process and explosive compounds. Of course the government responded by putting stiffer regulation on the ammonia - which the producers responded to by finding a way to make the ammonia, or switching to a red phosphorus reduction method. Now the government has decided to regulate the sale of ephedrine and all similar drugs, but since ephedrine is a fairly simple and natural alkaloid, it can be readily extracted from some plants, or even synthesized, or possibly this process will be replaced by another, yet again more deadly process entirely. Get the picture yet? The measures taken to stop drugs has ONLY made things worse and more dangerous - it NEVER improves and they will NEVER succeed - short of regulating knowledge, like in the days of Nazi rule - but even that would be just another very short sighted approach from the US government, in this, the age of technology. But in the face of these truths, the government is good with answers - they simply point to the 'new' dangers of drugs, which they, themselves have caused, and claim it as further need and reason for governmental control. This cause and effect cycle of attempts at prohibition doesn't only manifest in the realm of production, but also in personal use. Marijuana is arguably the safest recreational drug there is, but for some reason, the government cannot acknowledge this, so its illegal. But not only safe - due to the fat-soluble nature of the active chemicals in marijuana, the size and smell of a package of it, it is also the hardest to away with. So, exactly what we expect to see from human nature takes its course. The marijuana users don't simply stop using illegal drugs, a lot just move onto more dangerous drugs like crack, which can come completely out of your system in as little as 24 hours. Crack is much harder to detect in drug screening, much smaller packaged, and has almost no ambient odor at all - so of course it is easier to get away with. The fact is that almost all illegal drugs come out of the human system in 1 to 7 days, except marijuana which can take 2 to 6 weeks to be completely gone and untestable in humans, so yes, their policy of drug testing not only violates our rights to be secure in ones person, but also encourages users to move on to harder and harder drugs.

From the personal experience I have to offer – there have been an undue number of persons throughout my life to die from substance abuse, and most of them were due to the direct results of alcohol abuse. One exception sticks in my mind over the years – a dear friend who died because he started using heroin. Ron was his name. Ron died due to drug use, yes, but he did not die from drugs. He was killed by some counterfeit heroin which turned out to be a mixture of drain cleaner and some other kitchen chemicals – another victim of the war on drugs. This is what happens when you put the control of a market of consumables into the hands of only criminals. If heroin could be legally obtained, by all rights Ronny would probably still be alive today... So, to you, Uncle Sam - I hate you for what you have done to the people and their rights, freedoms and constitutional promises and protections. I hate you for every child who has been caught in the crossfire of a drug turf battle, I hate you for every mother grieving, I hate you for every family destroyed by the extensively over-inflated cost and punishment of drug use, I hate you for every overdose because of unpredictably strong drugs and every poisoning by lack of quality control, I hate you in the name of every government you have aided in overthrowing in your war on drugs, I hate you for the poor farmers and their starving children who lost their only cash crop when you poisoned their fields, I hate you for the millions of men, women and children locked away in institutions for the victim-less crime of drug use/possession, I hate you for the impoverished conditions you have created in the inner cities, I hate you for every victim who has been robbed by someone trying to support a $100 per gram cocaine habit, I hate you for everyone who has fallen to aids because you do not allow sterile drug use, I hate you for every hungry child who would have eaten, except their father smoked marijuana on his own time and lost his job later due to testing, I hate you for everything you have done to everyone. But what I hate most about you is the fact that all this is the result of self-interest and agenda driven politics. I hope to see you in hell.

[Blah]

America has the most people in prisons accross the world. Are we proud of this? To lock up our people b/c the government is being to foolish to legalize drugs! Why must the government make our choices for us, if it is good or bad. Everyones life style is different and alot unhappy people turn to useing OTC drugs when all they want is a joint. How is a joint going to harm you. I wish the U.S. government would just lay off and live our lives free and make our own decisions.

[Dave]

I don't think there's a perfect solution to the drug problems in the world. But I believe legalizing drugs is probably better than making them illegal. With marijauna, certainly. I have a hard time seeing how it's worse than alcohol.

With more addictive and deadly drugs, I can see arguments. But people are taking them now, so the government may as well get tax revenues from it.

Even if consumption and related problems rose because of the legalization, the benefits from taxes and legitimate business would outweigh the costs. After all, people have to take some responsibility for themselves. The government can't regulate all of our behavior to keep us safe.

[howard menke]

Why should I pay taxes, and drug dealers don"t have to? The crime in this country would drop 60-80%, Leagalize drugs now!!!!

[howard menke]

Why should I pay taxes, and drug dealers have to? The crime in this country would drop 60-80%, Leagalize drugs now!!!!

[Ashley]

I don't really want to search multiple drug-oriented websites on my open network computer, but I think that a case study on Amsterdam would be interesting. I know that they have considerably fewer addicts and better treatment programs to help abusers "clean up." Another something that I came across was that they view drug use a health issue, not as a criminal issue. It sounds to me like breaking down this huge problem into manageable pieces... keep it simple.
I think that it would be wonderful for drugs to be regulated and taxed... and for the drug lords to pay taxes. It's been a profitable business through the test of time. The market is out there. I think that it would be beneficial to users as well. Like Tom said, people will be self-destructive regardless. More awareness, with FDA regulated ingredients and well-funded programs to help addicts recover would definitely be in the best interest of society as a whole.
As far as the marketing, I would imagine it similar to that of cigarettes= heavily regulated. Ultimately, they would probably look like a combination of Viagra meets Timothy Leary.

[Charlie Malouf]

So, if your recommentations came to fruition, my only real concern is the marketing of the recreational and highly addictive drugs.
Can you imagine having marketing/advertising/branding enticing us to live a life of total bliss?
Vanilla Sky anyone?

We would really have to regulate the marketing and advertising of these legal drugs, imho, but other than that I'm not really philosophically opposed to your arguments - in fact, I think that I am more in accord.

Although, I do think that those opposed are probably most likely opposed based on moral or ethical beliefs, moreso than consumption fear.

[Tom Evslin]

Thanks to "anonymous" who corrected my spelling of "coca" and confusion with very legal cocoa,

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure cocoa is legal already. But then it's impact is rather different to that of coca.

[brian]

The only way it would work is if businesses had the right to not hire or fire who uses (now banned) drugs, such that person could not claim they were discriminated against under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

[Alex Rowland]

Hey Tom, I've been reading your posts for the last couple of months. I have some disagreements with you on some issues, but you've really hit the nail on the head. I've had numerous debates with others, even relatively liberal friends, and the issue always seems to gravitate back towards the idea that drug legalization will drive consumption skyward. I always argue (seemingly in vain) that maybe a momentary bump in consumption would occur (the novelty of it all), but long term the trend would actually be downwards. I believe you could finance a lot of education and treatment with the tax revenues associated with the sale of these substances. But this always seems to fall on deaf ears.

My frustration is that legalization of any drugs, outside of marijuana, seems to be a non-starter for most. These same people agree with all the other arguments (the financing of an entire criminal and terrorist infrastructure), but they just can't get past this idea that drugs will be used more frequently if they are more readily available (aka at the local package store.) I still have a tough time defending against this argument without having any solid facts to lean against.

Until this idea can be effectively debunked, legalization will remain a pipe dream.

BTW, I also have a tough time understanding the financial benefit gained by maintaining this war. Is this merely a cultural issue, or are there financial interests at play here? I just can't seem to identify the specific constituent that benefits most financially from this continued prohibition. Can you?