Why doesn’t the American right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness include the right to get stoned?
The government seems to think that removing all of your liberties and putting you in jail at the taxpayers expense is less harmful to “society” than allowing recreational drug use.
The single most harmful byproduct of the “illegal” drug industry is crime. But that’s because of the artificially high profits produced by the government distorting the supply and demand curve.
Drugs themselves are actually pretty cheap to produce. So if people had access to cheap and medically safe drugs the crime issue would all but disappear. Then the government could focus on the problems associated with drug use instead of manufacturing and warehousing criminals.
The real reason for the opposition to drug use is that it’s a personal activity that doesn’t directly support or advance the social order. Therefore it’s of no practical benefit to society.
Just like contraception, abortion, homosexuality and prostitution. Society is thinking of it’s self first and “we the people” second.