"But let’s set these aside and suppose, for the sake of argument, that the free production, commercialization and consumption of cannabis proves in practice to do no harm, or at least much less harm than other products, such as cigarettes, that are permitted. What then? What would that tell us about policy towards drugs in general?
Not very much, I am afraid, for what is true of cannabis might not be true of other drugs. In other words, wise policy for cannabis might not be wise policy for ketamine, LSD, cocaine, or dexamphetamine. It is surely difficult to envisage (except for those who value consistency above prudence as a political virtue) a situation in which one could buy any or all of these drugs as if they were bread or chocolate.
To this, of course, the response might be that what is envisaged is a controlled market, as the sale of alcohol is controlled in the province of Ontario, or indeed is subject to restrictions to one degree or another throughout the Western world. There is, after all, something between a completely free market and total prohibition.
Such a controlled market would entail the abandonment of the abstract libertarian principle that everyone should be free to do anything he liked so long as he did no (direct) harm to others. It would mean conceding that the state had a legitimate interest in what its citizens did. But it seems to me almost as impossible to envisage the state actually supervising, and therefore inspecting, the sale of all—or indeed any—of the above-mentioned drugs to its citizens, as to imagine a totally free market in them."link
My take:
As a natve American (born in NYC), I was particularly puzzled how one of the great colonies and later US states, home of the authors of the Declaration, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and various other foundation stones of freedom and free enterprise, could presume to socialize a government monopoly for the sale of packaged alcoholic beverages. Virginia does not apparently trust the authorities of Scotland, Jamaica, France, Canada, Kentucky, and other government approved certifiers of quality and quantity to protect the alcohol consumers in its silly Commonwealth from counterfeit, adulterated, watered-down, or bootlegged Scotch, Rum, Cognac, Champagne, Vermouth, Canadian Whisky, Bourbon, Southern Comfort, Tequila, Courvoisier, Jameson Irish, or Mount Gay.
As a natve American (born in NYC), I was particularly puzzled how one of the great colonies and later US states, home of the authors of the Declaration, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and various other foundation stones of freedom and free enterprise, could presume to socialize a government monopoly for the sale of packaged alcoholic beverages. Virginia does not apparently trust the authorities of Scotland, Jamaica, France, Canada, Kentucky, and other government approved certifiers of quality and quantity to protect the alcohol consumers in its silly Commonwealth from counterfeit, adulterated, watered-down, or bootlegged Scotch, Rum, Cognac, Champagne, Vermouth, Canadian Whisky, Bourbon, Southern Comfort, Tequila, Courvoisier, Jameson Irish, or Mount Gay.
In fact, the thoughtful control freaks of Virginia won’t let anyone but their own state owned enterprise purvey packaged liquors to the consumer or make a profit from the business. They run hundreds of “package stores” staffed by state employees, in state owned buildings on state owned or leased tax-free real estate, where they pay no income tax, license tax, employer payroll tax, need not carry insurance, account for their receipts, sales tax collections, or inventory taxes. They have every advantage that no private employer or merchant can get and they have a monopoly enforced by arrest, prosecution and imprisonment. This is America?
New York State perceived a problem with gambling, with bookies, and the numbers racket afflicting poor and uneducated people. Their solution was to establish Socialized Bookmaking, where anyone above a certain age is free under the law to wager against the State. Off-Track-Betting and then the State Lottery were brought in with all those comparative business advantages of Virginia’s liquor stores, plus a massive advertising budget to lure idiots on subways, busses, billboards, radio and television to risk hard-earned cash on a fool’s game designed by Madison Avenue doctors of psychology to create the maximum addictive effect on its victims.
Now every state is doing it. When the decriminalize prostitution, you can be assured that the State will make all the hookers abandon their independent contractor status and become State Employees licensed, inspected, inured, and paid through the state’s VISA and MasterCard processing system after a nominal fee is extracted. The State will be the Pimp.
