Smoking

[Tiberius]

OK ... I give up!

Yay! Maybe now some people can have a good discussion. As for your points you started to attack:

1) I never said there wouldn't be consequences, and I never say the government wouldn't have to deal with them. I just don't see a fundamental difference between having drugs like alcohol and tobacco legal (we deal with the consequences of those) and having other drugs legal.

2) Personal responsibility comes in here (hey, you LOVE responsibility remember?). If drug taking is affecting children, social services is always there. Same thing with parents who drink, etc. Same thing as when couples are brought apart by alcohol. If you marry a person who takes these sorts of drugs, you deal with the consequences in your home. I'm not advocating people take these drugs, and I certainly wouldn't (never have either), or marry a person who takes drugs. I'm only reasoning that drugs should be available for those who want them.

As we've observed, this issue boils down to a core issue of personal responsibility.

Is it the government's right to tell us what we can and can't do to our own bodies? Should we be free to do harm to ourselves(our bodies)? If so, where is the line drawn between government/personal responsibility?

I don't think the government has any right to tell us what we can and can't do with our bodies. It used to be this way, but slowly it has changed. We made interracial relationships legal, we have legalized alcohol and cigarettes, we have recently (in the last 30 years) legalized homosexual relationships. The government does not own your body, you do. Hence why I think that people have the right to end their own life if they so wish.

It is the government's responsibility to prevent harm coming to people through anything but their own actions. That is where I would draw the line.