here's the thing

[justonemore]

Antigen, that's a fair and very dificult question. I maintain that there is no authority, not federally. HOWEVER, (wow, that's a big however) things such as drug use, public drunkenness ( public drunkeness is only ever a vice of the poor, the rich have clubs for that sort of thing) Are against the public order. Prostitution as well. Loan-sharking, other crimes. We, that is you and I, if we are to form society, must agree on a set of rules..... and if we are not to become ossified in that society, if we are to be free men and women (that's a nod to you) then we must have social mechanisms which tolerate and encourage the selective breaking of those rules. Hence, religion, yeah, that old time religion which has redemption and forgiveness at it's core. ( i do not count either Communism or Islam as valid religions, for neither has at it's core forgiveness, and both contain war as an essential element. No war, no islam, no communism.) Just a bunch of unruly Sikhs and buddhists and christians and jews and some jains, and first americans ( were they really first? or maybe that's bragging) all of these folk, Hindus and swedes and poles and irish, trading amongst each other and trying hard every day to outwit each other in business, or to see who can have the greenest lawn, or whose car can go faster. Wow, got off on a tangent there,did'nt I.
If the question is strictly limited to drugs,Then here we must be careful. Yes, in my opinion you have the right to use whatever drug you choose, red-rice yeast or nettle or marijuana or whiskey. ( I like whiskey) However, we are fools to believe that drugs can not and are not being used as anti-population weapons. They are.
One of the major problems in america is that we do not think long-term. History to americans is what we had for lunch. Communists think in decades. Other societies have had "drug problems" and they adapted socially. We have yet to. The answer lies, to me, not in public law, which should be very limited, but in private moral law, and that requires a deeper and more far reaching revolution than most are comfortable with. This may be a convoluted argument,so, apologies a'priori. J.O.M And yes, my sense of humour is about that of a ten-year old. ::unhappy::

[Samara]

The funny thing about the Drug War/decriminalization argument is that Big Pharm legally pushes prescription abuse and our society is over diagnosed and over medicated to exponential degree.  We don't fix our problems, we create them and medicate them.  If illegal drugs go legit the irony of irony is that Big Pharm and the Government will take over and be the Big Pushers of all time. They won't need guns or cadres, just slick ads, re-packaging and branding, and bogus research.

I'm not anti-decriminalization. But it will create a Narcodemocracy (not sure about the democracy part.) Big Pharm will simply expand their territory, as capitalists are wont to do. Feds will reverse roles. People will buy into it because the masses are lazy and stupid. Common sense is nosediving to hell in this overmediated spoon-fed society and I just wonder if drug use will become more widespread with decriminalization. Glossy ads, glossy eyes.

[justonemore]

samara, Maybe you are right, but i don't think so.Yeah, big pharma is an awful thing,so why do you suppose that health-food and chiropractic and accupuncture have grown exponentially.It's largely a matter of faith.
As a matter of faith I believe that most people are smarter than i think. (except sticky stack) I you leave them be, they will generally come to right conclusion, do right thing. there is always the problem of human evil, but for the most part that's aberration. I believe that people will do right, and do right by one another most often, when they are free. And when they don't. kill 'em J.O.M.

[DannyB II]

"Hallucinogens can cause paranoid and even violent reactions in people who have never used them." -- Zappa (I think)

My guess (without looking it up) is Timothy Leary, but I might be wrong.  FZ didn't care much fer the psychoactive goodness.

 :shamrock:  :shamrock:

When Deep Purple produced the Album "Made in Japan" the song "Smoke On The Water" was about Frank Zappa and his band being in the same building with the Deep when the place burnt up. Some folks were saying they were all tripping looking at the studio watching the smoke on the water. I read this in the Rolling Stone years back. Cheech and Chong were also there I heard.
Timothy Leary and Ken Keasy are pretty much known as the "fathers" of LSD.
Another thing when I was in California in 1979 I was hanging with some knarly dudes who had this "red hair" weed the buds would stick to your hands, well we had about 4 buds and this vial with a substance they called "honey oil" the oil extract from the "red hair" plant. We took a part of the bud put it in a paper then heated up the oil in the vial and poured a small amount across the weed horizontally. Well this bone would not stay lite because the oil would actually keep putting it out, so we cut that sucker up and put small pieces into a bong and smoked, well if that wasn't 60 -70 times greater......lol. I know we added to the percentage.
I will say this the red hair and purple hair/blueberry hair out in California is some of the strongest shit I've ever smoked it is 60-70 % stronger then that crap we smoked in the early 70's in the NorthEast.  

Danny