Tax and Regulate Libertarians

[Perd Hapley]

I have to point out, fistful, when you initially posted this thread, I thought your thread title mean that you thought that Libertarians should the taxed and regulated.  

Smashing idea!  I'll bring it up at the next Springfield Republican Party meeting, right after Bob Dole reads from the Necronomicon.

[Perd Hapley]

On big-l, small-l.  If you usually vote for Libertarian candidates, when given the choice, I'll probably call you a Libertarian with a big L, even if you don't agree with all of their planks.  In the same way, I wouldn't mind being called a Republican, as I usually vote for Republicans.  

I sometimes call myself a small-l libertarian, even though I am closer to what we currently term a conservative.  But this is because libertarian principles are a significant portion of the current "conservative" ideology.

[Tallpine]

An additional cost is the liability that companies would be assuming.  Who wants to be the manufacturer of an addictive product and face lawsuits from relatives claiming their faulty product caused the death/destruction of their loved one?  I dont want to argue the case here, but we all know that companies would face that issue.  As it is, drug dealers don't deal with lawsuits, reducing their costs significantly.
as for the cost to manufacture MJ, it is minimal.  And the barriers to entry are minimal.  The biggest one is in fact the risk of getting caught.  Take that away every Tom Dick and Harry with some soil and a grow lamp will be growing his own and/or selling it on the cheap.  Maybe people think that isn't a bad thing.

1) So what's wrong with bringing the drug dealers into the "white market" where they can be sued like everyone else?  Tobacco is legal but declining in usage (due to liability and social disfavor) but drugs are illegal and increasing in usage.

2) Just why is that a bad thing to take the profit, smuggling, and dealers out of the MJ business...?  I suspect that if folks could grow and use their own MJ, that use of more dangerous drugs would actually decline.  (not that I actually recommend using MJ, but if other people want to lower their IQ's and give me a greater advantage in the job market, why should I care? )