If we allow that people should be free to use drugs, are we not acquiescing to some uncertain number of them becoming addicted to those drugs?
Yes, now tell me what is wrong with that?
Can a man then be said to be truly free if he has allowed himself to become enslaved to his addiction?
He became enslaved by his own free will. He should be completely free to do this. No one FORCED him to become an addict.
And are we to stand idly by and observe as our fellow citizens become thus enslaved?
Not necessarily, but using FORCE to prevent them from making their own decisions is decidedly NOT FREE. This is worse than doing nothing.
“The wisdom in regulating mind-altering drugs should be self-evident in their mind-altering nature. It makes them inherently dangerous to more than just the user.”
If it were inherently dangerous to others, I wouldn’t have to ask you to explain how. How is it inherently dangerous to others?
“We look to the FDA to tell us which foods have no health value”
YOU may look to the government to keep yourself safe, but I don’t. Ever hear of Vioxx?
“who’s going to determine which drugs have value or not?”
The user that’s who.
“I deal with a family member now wasting his life away because he’s perfectly content to surivive during the day and get stoned at night.”
Sounds like he made a free will decision you simply don’t agree with. The fact that he is perfectly content tells me a lot. He’s happy with his decisions. In this case, it is you that have the problem, not him.
“They inflict their addictions into others’ lives by committing crimes against those that choose not to live a life clouded by drugs.”
We already have laws against the crimes that they commit. The reason they commit the crime is irrelevant. By your logic we should ban cars, because they kill people. Also, part of the reason they commit crimes is because the activity they are trying to take part in voluntarily is illegal. How many crimes are committed to further a drinking or smoking habit?
