[noahdesu]

I'm really conditioned to come at the legalization issue from other angles, but the cognitive liberty argument is quite nice. The talk here [0] provides a good introduction to the topic, but fair warning, there is a lot of passionate politics discussed (e.g. the state of jefferson etc...).

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDPL8_4W-8Q&t=1012s

[3131s]

The cognitive and personal liberty argument is all that should be required. It's my body and my mind, and I won't let another person exert that control over me. The negative externalities of drug use are mostly caused by prohibition itself and are minor compared to a whole host of things that are considered normal and vital to society (alcohol, junk food, driving a car, consumerism, etc.). Being branded a criminal will not exactly be the helpful push you need toward quitting drugs anyway.

Some other good arguments are...

* harm reduction through unadulterated and consistent drugs, clean needles, less stigmatization of addicts

* elimination of the black market around illegal drugs

* money from taxation

* reduction of the prison population and financial savings in the legal system / government / police

* the opportunity for research into both the medicinal effects of drugs like marijuana, mdma, psilocybin, and potential treatments based on greater scientific insight into the addictive properties of recreational drugs.

* that prohibition actually pushes people toward more dangerous drugs (heroin --> fentanyl, LSD / mushrooms --> 25i-NBOMe, marijuana --> K2)

* that the drug war is simply not working, so even if drug use has some inherent detriment to society, there's no realistic way to make that disappear.

[ansible]

I don't think the cost savings angle gets mentioned enough.

If you put people in jail for using drugs, everyone else is paying for that through taxation.

If they are working, then they are paying taxes. Even in areas with chronic unemployment (and we need to have a while 'nother conversation about economic inequality), a good percentage might still be working if not in jail.

So that is a double whammy to the tax payers who are paying for the War on Drugs.