Reply #92: I think it's a little more complicated than just making the drugs legal.

[TPaine7]

I agree that people have the right to do what they want with their bodies.

John and Jane Doe have the right to be crack heads. They don't have the right to conceive a crack baby, however, IMNSHO.

Society doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing. We can forbid brother and sister from conceiving (or at least marrying); there's the ancient and universal "yuck" factor to thank for that, reinforced by religious beliefs. We even test for the likelihood of engaged couples having children with rare diseases. But in many American's minds, crack addicts have a "right" to do things that lead to babies--babies that are doomed to struggle and suffering even more than the average person. Any attempt to require sterilization would "violate civil rights" or be "racist" or "fascist."

I believe that if given the choice and the opportunity, a person chooses to be a crack whore--let's say a male crack whore to avoid the appearance of sexism--he has that right. However, he doesn't have the right to impregnate a woman and sire a victim. After he surrenders his driver's license and has his vasectomy, give him a license to use any drug he wants--in private. And make sure he doesn't have a position of responsibility or involving heavy machinery or crucial to human or even animal life. We don't want meth addicts raising children, or operating dump trucks or working in crime laboratories with people's futures hanging in the balance.