Do you support legal drug use?

This is not a new opinion for me. Absolutely, we need to legalize drugs. However, with the caveat that users will be held fully accountable for their actions while under the influence. Sadly, when we ended the prohibition on alcohol, we returned to the legal philosophy of reduced accountability by virtue of diminished capacity. On the contrary, I would hold users accountable as though they acted with malice aforethought inasmuch as the use of the drug (and also alcohol) is voluntary and the user must be assumed to know that they will suffer diminished capacity while under the influence.

I won't waste anyone's time recounting the irreparable harm to society by prohibition as well as its failure to accomplish its intended goals.

There is no good reason why America should keep dumping money down the bottomless pit that is the war on drugs. One need only to look to Portugal's example to know that legalization works. Instead of wasting billions on hunting traffickers and incarcerating users like we do, Portugal spends their money on rehab and preventing addiction. Despite the nay-sayers, all the indicators went down -- crime rate, addiction rate, and yes, even usage.

And our states that have legalized recreational use now have more money than they know what to do with.

SSG Ed Mikus I think that we need to make the illicit drugs legal, overturn drug convictions, tax drugs like alcohol and tobacco, and put the same legal restrictions that are put on alcohol as far as age, operation of machinery, etc... We have been fighting a "war on drugs" since the 80's that has had no lasting effects.
fiscally, we are spending 15 Billion dollars a year on something that has no chance of succeeding. It is the law enforcement equivalent of the F-35, a hole that they throw money into. The amount spent comes out to $500 per second being spent on the useless drug war. Additionally, the legalization of currently illicit drugs would open up new businesses. Tax revenue would be increased. Agriculture would suddenly have a new source of revenue. The new businesses would lead to new and varied companies in the stock markets, or at the least a diversity in the pharmaceutical industry.
From a social perspective, we have the highest prison population on the planet. We have overcrowded and underfunded prisons. If those in on drug related charges were to be released, that would go a long way to alleviating that problem.
Now, the biggest problem out of the gate with legalizing drugs, and overturning convictions is that it would add roughly two million workers into the job market. This would cause a spike in unemployment that would drive the markets crazy. There would also be potential push back from those in the drug trade. Some of these folks are multi billionaires just off of the illicit product. They could react violently to the sudden devaluing of their product. Even if they began processing for legal consumption, the price would drop, and a great deal would go to taxes. Once the initial culture shock wears off, I think that the legalization of drugs would be no worse for society than alcohol. The majority of users would be upstanding citizens, but you would have the few shitbags, as with every cultural subset, that make people want all banned.

Illegal drugs should not be legalized for recreational use. Period... Those who argue that some could be used for medicinal purposes, that's fine. Once they clear the system and are approved for prescription by a licensed physician, they are by definition a legal drug (which requires a prescription of course).

It seems ludicrous to me that a government can legislate what a person puts into their own bodies. If that is indeed the case, then one owns literally nothing.

Do I want to use drugs? No. But the absolutely absurd amounts of money the US spends on the "War on Drugs" could be better spent elsewhere. Like a casino for all the return on investment it has generated.

Legalize, or at the very least, decriminalize small amounts and let's move on. Marijuana is mostly illegal and yet almost anyone can get whatever they want, whenever they want. Except in most places, those who have a medical need cannot get it. Our entire approach is backwards and authoritarian, and almost completely lacking in common sense or compassion.

Alcohol is legal--mostly--but not everyone is an alcoholic. Prohibitions tend to be empty holes into which governments throw money.

Legalize drugs and let's move on.

Decriminalize it all but not a single solitary taxpayer cent for treatment or rehab.

Who should be able to tell a free man what they can or can't do. That said, the inevitable consequences are nobodies fault but the user.

Liberty and individual freedom, always!

Yes, with limits. Marijuana should be legal and be taken off the schedule 1 list and be fully legalized for medical and recreational use and decriminalized nationwide. Regulate and tax the crap out of. Just like after Prohibition, the criminal activity ceased to exist. Illegal growers and street dealers evading taxes will be run out of business with legal pot stores just like the moonshiners and bootleggers were. News Flash-90% of the weed in the U.S. is grown here in the U.S. Its not a choice of foreign smugglers anymore because the market is saturated with homegrown that is of better quality and readily available. The most significant criminal act is the tax evasion by American pot farmers and street dealers. However, Absolutely not with cocaine and heroin. These drugs are produced in other countries and smuggled in, and many cases the profits are funding terrorism and other criminal activity or oppression of the people forced into labor to produce it. These drugs are dangerous and have no use in society. It is pretty much widely accepted that Marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol, and for many reasons does not pose the same threats as the other schedule 1 drugs.

You got to be shitting me right? Why would I support legal drug use? Don't we have enough problems with alcohol which is legal and how many people die everyday because they abuse the shit out of it? Don't we have enough drunk drivers out on our roadways now without all the ass holes who are also on drugs? I mean, WTF-Over!

My only response is that the USA should crack down on all drugs no matter where they come from

I don't support anything that will LEAD to ADDICTION!