The proponents of drug legalization have two flawed arguments. First, they point to prohibition as a failure without looking at the difference in the two eras. Prohibition made it a crime to do something that everyone prior to the law had the right to do. They were upset. No one that cares to weigh in on drugs was alive in 1914 when the Harrison Narcotics Act passed. In other words, unless you took LSD before October 06, 1966, you cannot remember when a Schedule One drug was legal*
Second, is the argument the war on drugs and drug laws have failed because people still use drugs. Well, Murder has been in the Penal Code of California since it was enacted in 1879. People still commit murder and I haven't heard anyone talking about making murder legal. People still run red lights, so should we make running red lights okay because penalties haven't worked?
The second argument is the result of ignorance and good intentions. Laws really aren't designed to stop a particular conduct. The law simply says what people have determined they won't tolerate as a whole, and what they want to happen to people that violate the terms of society. In the red light example, most people don't want to get hit while they peaceably drive through an intersection on a green. They want cross traffic to stop and they want "that idiot" to get a ticket if they run the red. If the violator gets a ticket, the red light law has passed the test of society.
*No, I'm not talking about designers or synthetic analogs that have subsequently been added.
Second, is the argument the war on drugs and drug laws have failed because people still use drugs. Well, Murder has been in the Penal Code of California since it was enacted in 1879. People still commit murder and I haven't heard anyone talking about making murder legal. People still run red lights, so should we make running red lights okay because penalties haven't worked?
The second argument is the result of ignorance and good intentions. Laws really aren't designed to stop a particular conduct. The law simply says what people have determined they won't tolerate as a whole, and what they want to happen to people that violate the terms of society. In the red light example, most people don't want to get hit while they peaceably drive through an intersection on a green. They want cross traffic to stop and they want "that idiot" to get a ticket if they run the red. If the violator gets a ticket, the red light law has passed the test of society.
*No, I'm not talking about designers or synthetic analogs that have subsequently been added.
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