[oblio]

Laws are about statistics. Statistically you can't trust even adults with stuff like gambling or smoking. Statistically they will make bad decisions that will wreck the lives of a big percentage of adults. Not a majority, but maybe 20%.

Accepting that fact is hard, but it's reality.

[AnthonyMouse]

Nobody is using statistics to pass these laws. There is no logical reason for cannabis to be illegal when alcohol isn't or for most stimulants to require a prescription when nicotine is available over the counter. They put caffeine in soft drinks and candy for crying out loud. The Federal Government of the United States directly subsidizes the production of high-fructose corn syrup.

There are two ways to deal with the fact that some people make poor decisions. The first is to teach people to make better decisions. This is obviously the correct answer, because it needs to be done anyway, because the second is insane. The second is to make all of their decisions for them.

And there is no "them" -- they're us. The people making the laws are just as human as anyone else. All you're doing is punting the decision to a different fallible entity which has less information because they're choosing in the abstract without the benefit of context. And causing errors to be universal rather than individual, resulting in systemic risk and lethal monoculture.

It's far better to have 20% of people make the wrong choice than 100%.