North Carolina man charged with trafficking crystal meth in Madison County

You are incorrect. We have not tried legalization. Legalize it, and none of these drug transactions are no longer crimes. The prices of drugs fall. Those who want drugs can get them safely without gunfights, police officers getting killed, etc. Legalize and we are no longer housing and paying billions to jail, feed, and house drug offenders because they are no longer breaking the law. Why will we not try this way? Answer - because the jails have become private businesses that put millions into pockets of communities that agree to allow the construction of jails and they put millions into politicians pockets who want to keep the "drug war" going at all costs so they and their pals can continue to get filthy rich.

You say we have "tried your way." Please cite just ONE instance in the United States where a municipality or state has legalized all drugs. Please, just give ONE example. I look forward to learning something new!

You only make the case that is high time we DO try our way!

You make the point that alcohol is legal. Thank you for proving my point. Alcohol is by far the worst, most dangerous, most damaging drug, and it is legal. There are no dealers making lots of money smuggling it. There are no police officers being killed. Drinking and driving kills, but studies show that cell phone use while driving is just as dangerous, and the problem with drinking and driving is the DRIVING, and yes, that is and should be illegal. But alcohol is legal, and therefore there is not a huge illicit criminal enterprise being funded by sales of alcohol. When alcohol was illegal under Prohibition, that was responsible for the rise of power by organized crime and the mafia, power they would never lose. We have the same problem with illegal drugs. All we are doing is enriching criminals so they have more power. Take away the money they make be legalizing drugs and you eliminate the big criminal drug cartels.

As far as drugs being damaging to the individuals who CHOOSE to consume them, you are correct. Alcohol kills thousands of people with the damage it does to their body. However, that is THEIR CHOICE. Alcohol users have the RIGHT TO CHOOSE and then they must be RESPONSIBLE and ACCOUNTABLE for their choices. We need to take the same approach with all drugs that we take with alcohol. If we can legalize and tolerate the most dangerous drug of all, alcohol, surely we can use the same approach with all other drugs. If you choose to use and abuse, then society is under no obligation to do anything for you. It's called PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. We need to get back to it. We won't, though, because the drug dealers make too much money, which they give to politicians and lobbyists, who brainwash people like yourself into believing the "drug war" is somehow accomplishing something. All those billions the dealers use to buy politicians, combined with the billions in taxes paid to the law enforcement / prison money machine, means the dealers are getting rich off the drug sales, and the private prison enterprises are getting rich off your tax dollars.

Let's face it. Making drugs illegal hasn't worked. Sales and consumption are always increasing and are at an all time high even after over 30 years of "drug war." My grandma said if what you're doing isn't working, try something new. Why are people so opposed to trying new solutions instead of continuing to do what doesn't work? Why not try legalization? What have we got to lose? What we're doing is resulting in more drug use - why do you want more drug use?