Nothing good can come of this...

"I would not go out and begin using drugs because they were legal and I do not smoke cigarettes. What could be better than taking the profit away from the killers and dealers." writes one commentor.
You might not use drugs even if they were legal, but alot of people would. Is there any doubt in your mind that many people are deterred from these things because there are criminal penalties attached to getting caught? You might not get caught, but then again you might. I have seen alot of examples of drug induced stupidity in the presence of police officers. There is no point in criminalizing things people never want to do. Murder, robbery, theft, etc. are illegal because if these things were legal, people would be more inclined to steal what they wanted or murder their fellow man just because the guy needed killing. Is there any doubt that theft or robbery would increase if made illegal. Look at the tax system thought the coercion of the IRS legally taking your money by force, and there is no stopping them.
Yes indeed, cigarettes and alcohol are legal. How much do you think other people's cigarette or alcohol induced chronic illnesses are costing you? The government pays disability to people who become unable to work. But even if there is no tax cost, how much of our insurance costs are to make up for the claims paid by smokers for oxygen tanks and alcoholics for liver transplants or any of the numerous other expenses the insurance company must cover due to someone's self destructive behavior. Do I really want my government to legalize more ways for Americans to disable themselves? Of course not, because when they do, Kevin and every other decent hard working American has to take up the financial slack in one way or another.
By the time people figured out how really bad alcohol was, it was a socially acceptable libation. Jesus changed water into wine to save a wedding celebration. Prohibition did work by to an extent, but once the genie is out of the bottle, it's hard to get back in. Alcohol enslaves people, I have seen it over and over again. Drugs enslave people worse.
The argument that people should be allowed to do whatever they want to their own bodies fails in light of the fact that the rest of us (including Kevin) have to pay in some way for their bad choices. Their bad choices don't just hurt themselves; they hurt alot of other people beyond their own families.
To think that the government will control it by taxing it is absurd. Taxes are for revenue raising. For a taxed thing or activity to create revenue, people must engage in the behavior and those relying on the revenue need them to do the activity in large numbers.
Do we really need more worthless potheads, crackheads, and methheads lying around?
And, with more and more people becoming unemployed, do you really want to put all of the police officers, prison guards, probation officers, parole officers, prosecutors, and defense attorneys out of work?
Yes, there are bad thing in our society that are legal, but it is a falacious argument that we should legalize even more bad, more destructive things just because some bad things are legal now.
It might be a good idea not to let all of the evil out of Pandora's box.