Relegalize all drugs now

Seeing as no one else is going to reply to Peter Cuthbertson I suppose I'll have to do it myself.

Cuthbertson mentions the case of a grandfather who overdosed on Ecstasy and died. His view is that this proves the case for the continuation of a ban on all drugs.

This is a truly bizarre claim (sorry Peter). This man died taking illegal drugs. The ban did not save him. This is the regime you support - not me. There are thousands like him every year who die as a consequence of taking illegal drugs.

Now, it is difficult to get into Peter Cuthbertson's way of thinking not least because he doesn't state it. Does he think that the situation will be worse if drugs were relegalised? I find it difficult to imagine how it could be. First of all the criminal element gets eliminated at a stroke. So, we can look forward to a radical reduction in crime. Secondly, the quality of drugs will be improved once they are legalised. After all, how many of us die from dodgy beer or cigarettes. Thirdly, relegalisation will allow entrepreneurs to sell weaker and safer versions. Instead of heroin many will try opium. Instead of cocaine many will try it in leaf form - just like the Amazonian Indians.

This is not to deny that some people will do some pretty stupid things. Some people will become addicts - just as they do now. Some people will overdose - just as they do now. The argument for freedom is not that things will be perfect merely that they will be less imperfect.