Since joining this board some years ago, I don't recall if I've ever voiced (or typed) support for anti-drug legislation. I have said I was undecided, and I've criticized drug-legalization arguments (and will probably continue to do so). But I am ready to say now, that I no longer support drug prohibition, at least as we know it today. I've said this a time or two in passing, but I really appreciated it when CAnnoneer made an "official" announcement about his own re-evaluation of the abortion issue. So here I am.
My anti-drug stance was just one that I acquired along with my other conservative views, which I picked up from my parents and my church friends while growing up. While I've given a lot of thought to other planks of the conservative movement, and feel confident about most of them, the issue of drugs was never one that I spent much time on. For many years, I wondered if it was consistent with the libertarian impulse of modern American conservatism. And probably, I felt repulsed by the image of drug legalization as a political doctrine of pot-heads and other dirty hippies. And maybe I just felt more comfortable being in agreement with most of my friends and family on a fairly important issue.
Then again, it really doesn't seem that important to most people I know. We don't talk about it much. I think a huge segment of the population is OK with drug prohibition, because it doesn't affect many of us, at least directly. And I still wouldn't say it is in the top tier of problems confronting the nation. But even so, I think many would be surprised to find that even the Bible-thumping crowd is not uniformly in support of drug laws.
My church had a visit from an Alabama evangelist last week, a man that many in the congregation praised for his "old-time religion." And in my church, you've got to be a real, rock-ribbed, hard-shelled, old-school type of guy, to get that accolade. We got to talking, after the last revival service, and he surprised me by coming out against drug laws. You can read more about him here:
http://www.crawfordcampaign.com/He lost the run-off election.