Government s job should be to protect rights, not to trample on them. Your right to your life is your most fundamental right. It means that your life and your body should be yours to command. No one, much less government, should have a say in your personal choices. Your right to liberty also includes your right to make bad judgments and even to harm yourself by acting on them.
Freedom demands personal responsibility.
The fact that people may harm themselves by taking drugs is no justification for government to step in and outlaw their use or their production and trade. If it were, then government would be justified in outlawing tobacco, junk food and alcohol as well. Every product or substance can be abused or misused. Government should always protect us from each other, like a policeman, but never protect us from ourselves, like a nanny. The decriminalization of drugs would be a huge step in recognizing and protecting the individual rights and individual freedom of all in America.