The United States should legalize all drugs

I love drugs. If you read my DDO profile, you'll learn that I eat healthy and exercise regularly (i.e. I take great care of my body) precisely so that I can use hard drugs with minimal repurcussions. I've dropped, eaten, smoked, and snorted everything from MDMA to heroin. I even did meth once (never felt so speedy in my life). And thanks to a combination of all these drugs, I learned to seethe with the cosmos.I've learned more from drugs than anything else. Drugs have taught me a profound sense of humility, that I'm not in total control, that my ideas and vision and even body don't always operate the way I want. And at the same time, I learned that I can seethe with the universe, swell with its cosmic tides, surf and drown and frolic in its terrestrial waves. It's good to be 16, tripping on acid and seeing the invisible textures of the universe. And it's good to be 19 and so lit that you can smell the stars.These experiences prepare us for a beautiful life. They teach you that life isn't defined by your job, it's defined by your relationship with the universe. In the words of Rich Doyle, drugs teach us to be ecodelic. And that applies at all stages of your life, no matter your age—drugs break the constraints of habit, anxiety, and dread. The vast majority of drug users have positive experiences with no downside. To be sure, drugs can fvck you up if they're not taken well. But that means we need to teach kids how to use drugs well. That's how we treat driving (and note that driving is by far the #1 cause of teen death). So drugs shouldn't be any different. We need a drug culture, drug manuals for parents, courses at high school, and even PhDs in ecodelia. We'd have open discussions on drug diet, how drugs pair with other drugs, best times of day or year to take this or that, plus outdoor markets where people can peruse molly, junk, blow, Ativan, whatever suits their fancy.[Note: The resolution doesn't require that I advocate this drug culture, so don't hold me to it. The point is that drugs have (or at least could have) an overwhelmingly positive effect on society.]Of course, unless you've done lots of drugs, you probably don't know how educational and life-changing they are. So for anyone unsure about the positive effect of proper drug use, let me get into why the government shouldn't be in the business of interfering with personal decisions about using drugs.“The State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one’s life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others.” [1] From that starting point, the only reason people give up some of their freedom is to be protected from being harmed by others. This idea is captured by John Stuart Mill’s famous “harm principle,” which holds that each person must be afforded the right to exercise self-control over their own body and mind, and that “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” [2]This principle rests on an important distinction between “self-regarding acts” and “other-regarding acts.” The former involve doing things to yourself that don’t harm other people, though they may be self-destructive. The latter involve doing things that harm other people. Mill argued that government should never prohibit or interfere with the former, even if these choices are self-destructive. As such, individuals should have all the freedom they want to pursue their own views of the good life—up to the point where an unwilling person could be harmed. Freedom ends only where the next person’s nose begins.The United States was founded on this principle. And under this principle, the government's job isn't to ensure people make smart decisions. Nobody should be punished for hurting their own mind or body. That's why suicide is legal. And if suicide is legal, so too should drugs be legal. And it doesn't matter if a particular drug is self-destructive—its use has no effect on anyone but the person using the drug. Personal drug use is an entirely self-regarding act. And this puts drugs firmly outside the scope of legitimate government control. The United States should therefore legalize all drugs no matter how self-destructive it is.The usual responses aren't compelling. Some argue that legalizing drugs will increase drug use. So what? Unless drugs are harming someone other than the person using the drugs, it doesn't matter how many people use drugs, especially if the drugs are used well. And I support increased use of drugs like LSD, MDMA, heroin, etc., so that argument simply isn't persuasive. Others argue that increased drug use will transform otherwise law-abiding citizens into violent criminals. But there's no evidence for that claim.There's essentially no reason to criminalize drugs. And there's every reason to legalize them. Therefore, vote Pro. Sources1. http://www.iep.utm.edu...2. https://en.wikipedia.org...