Why U.S. Attorneys and FBI Brass Support Washington’s Marijuana Law

[JDPriestly]

4. I agree. I view these substance abuse issues from the point of view

of the marriages ruined, the children abused and neglected and the families impoverished and destroyed by drug and alcohol abuse.

I am not coming from an authoritarian point of view. My morality is about the harm done to people by things like tobacco, alcohol and some of these drugs. That is why I really don't care so much one way or the other about marijuana. It tends to make people lazier (and maybe fatter), but I haven't seen a family torn apart by marijuana use. There could be some families like that, maybe even a lot, but I haven't seen them.

On the other hand -- alcohol, meth. Those drugs steal parents and spouses from their children, from their families. It happens over and over, and if you have to watch that happening, you really get sick of it.

I understand that cocaine is maybe the worst drug in terms of causing irreversible brain damage and certain death. But I haven't seen what it does to family life. I don't really know much about it.

So, I think the war on drugs should focus on these drugs that harm society. After all, investigating and prosecuting drug trafficking is expensive and difficult. We should approach it wisely and with compassion for its real victims -- children and family members who are not using drugs, who are not addicted.