The Harrison Act, and FDA regs worked together to get narcotics and cocaine away from OTC sales.

My concern regarding drugs is fairly simple. As I said, about 15% of the population handles, metablizes, them differently than the rest, and are exceedingly suseptible to addiction.

Unlimited access to these things is for many people like giving a child a gun, only worse. Since NO one needs these illicit drugs to live, and they are dangerous for many, many people, there doesn't seem to be any reason to legalize them. They are available for medical purposes where indicated.

The NORML and other folks who want marijuana available for medical uses are, in my considered opinion, addicts already. ("I've been smoking marijuana every day for 15 years and it hasn't bothered me. I'm not an addict.") Of course they feel better when they use MJ. When they stop, they go into withdrawal. (That's similar to withdrawal from benzodiazepines - Valium, Xanax, Librium. Weeks, up to a month, of anxiety, difficulty in focussing, generalized fears, lack of sleep.) They need MJ the way any addict needs their drug of choice, and will feel worse until the withdrawal is over.

For reasons too numerous to go into here, I think MJ is the most dangerous drug out there. It really, really debilitates people, and they have no idea. Day after tomorrow they're going to get it together, but right now they'll have a joint. And, I have never yet met a pothead who didn't believe they were just a bit smarter than anyone else they had ever met. Sincerely believe that, at a deep level.

With what are now illicit drugs widely available legally, I believe you'd see a very significant percentage of the population seriously impaired in a while.

Most of the people wouldn't notice it. Those are the people for whom "Just say no!" makes sense.

I can eat peanuts, no problem. Some people can't. And, I can live without peanuts if it makes life possible for those who do have a problem.

Arf