Manedwolf,
Usually we agree, so I am a bit surprised to see you supporting the "war on drugs." For the record I do not support the abuse of anything, including intoxicants, but I believe the answer to that and just about all problems lies in self-control, responsibility, education, and a focus on the kind of tough-minded honoring of individual liberty that has been synonymous with this nation's deepest beliefs. We must not be afraid of who we are. You're right, the hard stuff can make you do ugly and crazy things, but better the isolated rampaging doper than a marauding pack of ruthless and venal killers; better the occasional berserker than a predatory state. This is always the argument, isn't it? That one "wild" person disqualifies everyone else, no matter how self-controlled, from exercising their rights? And, let me add, you will never succeed in banning "altered states," because they are an intimately entwined with not only human deliquency but higher human aspirations. A wise society will use wisely; a corrupted polity will use badly.