legalize it?

a friend of mine recently tweeted that "I have been arguing the legalization of drugs my whole life. Using pretty much every argument contained in this article: 'study: alcohol is the "most harmful drug," followed by crack and heroin'"

i replied back saying that using the same article he can also see why all drugs, including alcohol, should actually be banned. he responded with something about how women's logic should be banned.

misogynist snark aside, i think he does see my point. and i think most people can too.

in a related issue, i voted no on prop 19 (california's prop to legalize "various marijuana-related activities, allow local governments to regulate these activities, permit local governments to impose and collect marijuana-related fees and taxes, and authorize various criminal and civil penalties" [wikipedia]). ). i don't have anything against marijuana (besides that it smells like skunk). i think it's less dangerous than tobacco cigarettes. and i say this not because it's "natural" or whatever that argument is, but that marijuana isn't highly addictive. in fact, most users don't become addicted at all, even with long-term use. but i think that if the government is going to say that certain drugs are illegal (cocaine, meth) then everything in the same category should be illegal too.

so what about over-the-counter drugs (cough syrup, tylenol)? but i'm defining "bad drugs (and therefore should be illegal drugs)" as those which for most people the most common and obvious effect is a distortion of the actual reality, and it is exactly for these reasons that many people are motivated to take them. (i understand that tobacco {whether cigarettes or smokeless} is kind of an exception to this definition but in some way tobacco is worse. it doesn't provide a super obvious distortion of reality, and yet you become addicted anyway. and, of course, lots of people take tobacco to relax, so i am including it.) so yeah, that benadryl might make you sleepy, but 1. that doesn't happen for the huge majority of people and 2. nearly everyone taking benadryl  just wants to get rid of their allergies. most everyone taking ecstasy isn't looking to get rid of depression (though taking e will make you happy).

another thing. the "people are going to do it anyway so let's just make it legal" argument is complete bullshit. if that way of thinking is correct, why don't we get rid of laws prohibiting murder, rape, torture, theft... i think you get my point.

one other bullshit argument people were using in favor of legalizing marijuana was something about taking money away from drug cartels. ...then shouldn't we also legalize opium and all other drugs (hella drug cartels there), murder (damn those assassins and hit men!), child prostitution (so their greedy adult pimps don't get money; the kids should pocket all the money they earn)...

i think the only good argument for legalizing marijuana is that it does seem to be less dangerous than other "drugs" which are currently legal: tobacco and alcohol. but honestly, isn't it better to ban all "bad drugs" rather than having these hazy debates about what evils aren't quite evil enough?


btw, a little about me. i'm a guilty drinker. for many years my boyfriend and i were teetotalers (he had his reasons  and i went along wit it). but later i did start to drink everyone once in a while. a great while. in the 9 years we weren't drinking, i drank less than 10 times, probably less than 5 times even. but every time i did drink i felt really guilty about it. and even tho now we both drink (tho infrequently) i still feel bad about it. and it gets "worse." my dad drinks everyday, not to the point of getting drunk, i don't know if he's even tipsy, but it is everyday. i've seen him drunk only a couple times in my life, and i hated it. i know that i hold him to a higher standard (he is my dad afterall) but i cannot stand people who get puking drunk. and along with all this, i have semi-control issues anyway so seeing people losing control is especially disgusting to me. so even when i do drink now, i don't like getting tipsy. so, lol, maybe you can see why i can be so conservative as to consider banning all drugs, including alcohol.