Just for the record, I didn't say I
agreed with the reasons it is outlawed, but those are the reasons (as I see them). That doesn't mean I don't agree with them either though
However, misuse of highly psycho-active substances can lead to extremely unpleasant consequences. I know this because I have been down that road. Strangely enough, many of my difficulties vanished as soon as I laid off the mindbending drugs. Yes, I used them both for concious-expanding reasons, as well as getting high and going to parties - and I broke the law in doing so.
Had I ever been caught, I doubt I would have gone to jail. There is a difference in there being a law in place, and how that law is enforced - I'm not one to avoid doing something because the law tells me so. But I'm also not one for taking huge risks with my liberty either. Anyway, making something illegal does not remove it from existance, it simply limits its availability.
Master_Shake, I don't get your point about getting high and not paying more money to 'the man'. If drugs were legal, who do you think would be profiting from them? Yes, it would be 'The Man'. He really doesn't care what you do, but as long as you require a need for organised distribution (of whatever product) he will be there.
You could try mixing up your own medicines in the basement, but you will have first bought the basement from 'The Man', the chemicals and supplies from 'The Man' and so on and so forth. Who is this mythical person and what's your problem with him anyway? Also, you are unlikely to be 'ass-raped' for carrying a tab of acid, or a bag of shrooms.
FortyRules, I take your point on the cigarrettes/alcohol thing - but again, laws never were supposed to make sense, they are organic things laid down by history.
What I do think is that the supply should be restricted one way or another, and if it isn;t restricted through the tool of illegality, it should be restricted via some different method.
No the state is not there to stop people from doing silly things, but it is responsible for cleaning up the mess afterwards - for that reason, it's probably more cost effective to limit the problems at one end, than it is to solve the ones at the other end of the process.