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Meth is not fit for human consumption. I am certain of it. I am aware of the destruction people can cause using it. I know it can be dangerous to merely be in the vicinity of "labs".
Do I think it should be outlawed? More specifically, do I find anything in the Constitution that gives anyone the right to legislate against it?
No.
The War on Drugs is a joke. It's a joke because the same government that most of you believe can't usually find its own behind with both hands and a map is somehow supposed to succeed without wholesale trampling of rights in this one regard? Likely.
I think most of you aren't actually against recreational drug use. (Except for a few moralists.) What I believe most of you- and hopefully America- are really against are certain behaviors: driving while under the influence; endangering children; poisoning the environment; blowing up the apartment; behaving violently, etc.
You know what? Those behaviors are already illegal. People can be prosecuted for having dangerous substances accessible to children. They can be jailed for neglect. They can be jailed or killed for posing a violent threat. They can suffer a laundry list of penalties for poisoning or arson.
Me? I'm a libertarian. I believe folks get to do what they want, as long as they don't infringe on other's rights. All these chemicals that some of y'all are so concerned about were legal not so very long ago. So were all manner of poisons and weapons. Somehow it doesn't seem to have been that big a problem.
But, but, we live in different times now! Some will protest.
Bulll****. People don't change. Face the truth, which is this: people can hurt themselves with anything. Obesity-related disorders are now the number one killer in the U.S., meaning that folks are abusing- omigod, wait for it- food. Yep. More than anything else.
Now, if you decide tomorrow to legislate McDonald's out of existence and raid every restaurant with SWAT teams, I imagine you'll see a few million people protesting and/or rioting the next day.
We as a country are trying to push the responsibility for yet another issue off on the government instead of where in rightfully belongs, in our own hands. The WOD doesn't work. It criminalizes the wrong things, not the behaviors we want to control. Punish crime. Save money. Save some freedoms.
This doesn't mean I don't have sympathy for those who've used drugs to hurt themselves or those they love. I do. I have family members and close friends who are or were in drug recovery programs. Being sympathetic does NOT mean I get to give away my reason, and history tells us that about the only thing the government can do somewhat well is fight other countries. So...end the "War on Drugs", and let's get on to the next "war" that will take still more of our freedoms.
Unwarranted wiretapping, anyone?
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