Sorry. Couldn't resist. Also, I strongly recommend you find something else to occasionally do. Seriously. I've known many educated professionals who liked to occasionally snort blow. I can think of none who can say, “And then I decided to try coke and it was a great decision.” I can think of many who can say, “And that's when I lost my job” or “packing up and moving to Florida at 2 a.m. seemed like a good idea” or “I'll never meet another like her,” etc, etc. It's a very insidious substance.

And I think we should address underlying causes, but legalisation won't do that. Rehabilitation and education might do that, but legalisation should only come after these things and not before, as if it comes before it will only exacerbate these problems.

And look what happened.

While some of us might think its ok for anyone to do whatever they want, aren't there still some secular values that the State can legitimately encourage? Like environmentalism, citizenship, education etc etc? If we accept that the government has the right to regulate and control for the better good- which is what everyone in Europe is demanding is done with the banks, then maybe it is ok for the government to do the same with drugs. Especially among the young who are the most vulnerable.

Heavy drinking is endemic amongst the under 18s anyway, and has alot of undesirable effects in the wider social sphere, and most people think we should encourage moderation. So it is legitimate for a government to think of ways to encourage moderation. Surely this should mean we must be even more cautious to allow yet another drug to flow around more freely, as the combined effects of alcohol and marijuana amongst the young might lead to even more strange social side effects and undesirable traits- I'm keeping these vague as I think these are difficult to categorise.

While alot of people here might seem happy with life, if alot of studies suggest that high drug use in the under 25s is often symptomatic of hopelessness, apathy, frustration, lack of social cohesion etc etc then surely these are the issues we should be looking at? If drug use is higher in poorer communities, or amongst 'disaffected' black youth, or amongst the uneducated this might show that drug use itself is an indication of something else we might want to eliminate.

And even if one person or several claim they smoke pot because they like it and are healthy, wealthy and wise citizens, that is not really a sound basis for policy when alot of others might not be in their position?