Cory, find the refrigerator/bookcase. If it isn't already out there, a cross-application of Rule 35 will almost certainly go into effect.

&Pyros
Obama said he wouldn't send the DEA after users and distributors of medical marijuana. That's probably all we're going to get.

&Gun Control
Had the thugs who burst into Cory Maye's home not been wearing badges, we'd be talking about a strong argument FOR gun control right now. Plus, are you talking about just gun control or a gun ban? Because Cory Maye probably would have been able to buy a gun legally under any gun control situation. (And illegally if guns were banned. As the drug war shows, banning something doesn't make it hard to get.)

&Dierken

Only if it was also opt-in and not used for marketing research.

Also, let me correct my earlier post. Chaff is useless as far as privacy goes, but it could be useful in the short term if your only goal is to screw with marketers.

The problem is that the government isn't tracking what people do to build profiles, it's tracking what people do to see if we visit certain sites, express certain opinions, and so on. It only has to catch you doing one thing, not accurately analyze everything you're up to. The only way a program like this would work is if it generated hundreds of profiles expressing many divergent opinions and interests online, so that it becomes impossible to identify which one is real. And even then, it's only useful if a large enough number of people use it that the government doesn't simply tag everyone that looks like they're using the program. Encryption and proxies are the solution. Chaff is next to useless.

Sorry, "highly addictive" not "highly illegal", although marijuana, LSD, MDMA, cocaine, heroin, et. al. are all examples of drugs that made the jump from prescription to highly illegal.

&Jordan M

Here's the straight legalization argument:

Many prescription drugs are highly illegal, and alcohol fits your definition of a drug "that affect judgment so strongly that users commonly put the public in danger" better than anything else on the market. Further, the death of Cory Maye is an example of "harsh enforcement policies for dealers" in action. By making the consumption of drugs legal and the sale of drugs illegal, you continue to keep the organized crime, the unsafe ingredients, and the urban blight caused by the drug war alive. It's a convenient position to say that drug users are "victims" to be pitied, but oh, the dealers are predators, lock 'em away for good. The worst problems of the war on drugs remain intact.