I work in the court system. I see first hand the personal carnage that methamphetamine wreaks in the lives of people who use it. At least four things happen: their health goes to [bleep] (which means I have to pay for their decision to abuse drugs); their kids turn to [bleep] (which means I have to pick-up the tab for them too); they turn to property crimes to feed their habit (which means they steal my property and I have to pay for police protection and jails in consequence of their behavior) and finally, they can't work, which means I have to buy their groceries and pay their rent.
So if drug use goes way up (which it will with legalization, don't kid yourself) then these negative externalities will also skyrocket.
How is that situation a "solution"?
Drug use regarding the hard and deadly drugs will not go up. If anything, it will go down. Lots of people start drugs BECAUSE it's illegal and provides a thrill. Take that away and I believe in the long run fewer will get involved. Most everybody knows the issues that come with meth, crack, and heroin. None of those issues encourage use, but some get caught up just because they went in for the thrill of doing something illegal. Probably started with pot and found their life ruined when they got involved with the real [bleep].
You can never have a worse society with more freedom, but that would also require that entitlements be severely curtailed as they are contra-freedom and responsibility not only encouraged but mandated.
