What's Right in our own eyes.

I totally agree.

But in the area of actions between consenting adults the government is not the appropriate venue for Christians in which to fight sin.

I prefer to see these United States stay as far away from the Muslim fundamentalist model as practiced by the Taliban in Afganistan as possible.

 

Laws, which have been disbanned and relaxed over the years and existed early in our nations history, were never in any way modeled after muslim theocracy. and it is quite a stretch to amke an attempt to compare the two.

 

The criminalization of certain drugs is relatively recent in our nation's history - only within the past 110 years or so.

 

Which is a result of them not existing prior to that. Homosexuality wasn't excepted. neither was a number of behaviors that run loose now. I dare say the founders would have rejected drugs much in the same way if they had existed and were being pushed in the same way.

 

Marijuana has been around for thousands of years and was legal in this country as recently as when Ronald Reagan was a boy.

Opium has been around for thousands of years and as recently as 1898 Bayer started manufacturing cocaine on a commercial scale and cocaine was not banned until 1924.

Cocaine has been around for thousands of years and used to be sold over-the-counter in this country until it was banned in 1914.

 

Ah but the question is was it used like it is today and did it destroy society as it does today?

 

Marijuana cultivation began in the United States around 1600 with the Jamestown settlers, who began growing the cannabis sativa or hemp plant for its unusually strong fiber that was used to make rope, sails, and clothing. Until after the Civil War, marijuana was a source of major revenue for the United States. During the 19th century marijuana plantations flourished in Mississippi, Georgia, California, South Carolina, Nebraska, New York, and Kentucky. Also during this period, smoking hashish, a stronger preparation of marijuana derived from the dried resin of the plant, was popular throughout France and to a lesser degree in the US.
Between 1850 and 1937 marijuana was widely used throughout United States as a medicinal drug and could easily be purchased in pharmacies and general stores. Recreational use was limited in the US until after the Mexican Revolution of 1910, when an influx of Mexican immigrants introduced the habit


http://www.masscann.org/facts/Social_History.htm

 

I don't think that it should be any of the government's business what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes. You and I don't agree on this point and there's really no way to bridge that gap.

If someone uses/misuses any drug(over-the-counter or prescription) and commits a crime he should prosecuted just as anyone should be.

If someone messes up his life using a drug then he should be the one responsible for cleaning his life up with assistance from private groups such as churches and drug rehabilitation centers if he needs them.

 

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]Cocaine's Role in American History
[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]Cocaine was first synthesized in 1855. It was not until 1880, however, that its effects were recognized by the medical world.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]The first recognized authority and advocate for this drug was world famous psychologist, Sigmund Freud. Early in his career, Freud broadly promoted cocaine as a safe and useful tonic that could cure depression and sexual impotence. Cocaine got a further boost in acceptability when in 1886 John Pemberton included cocaine as the main ingredient in his new soft drink, Coca-Cola. It was cocaine's euphoric and energizing effects on the consumer that was mostly responsible for skyrocketing Coca-Cola into its place as the most popular soft drink in history. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]From the 1850's to the early 1900's, cocaine and opium laced elixirs, tonics and wines were broadly used by people of all social classes. This is a fact that is for the most part hidden in American history. The truth is that at this time there was a large drug culture affecting a broad sector of American society. Other famous people that promoted the "miraculous" effects of cocaine elixirs were Thomas Edison and actress Sarah Bernhart. Because there were no restrictions placed on acquiring these drugs in the early 1900's, narcotics were an acceptable way of life for a large number of people, many of whom were people of stature. Cocaine was a main stay in the silent film industry. The pro-drug messages coming out of Hollywood at this time were receiving international attention which influenced the attitudes of millions of people about cocaine. [/FONT]
http://www.cocaineaddiction.com/cocaine_hist.html


Making generalized statements to its overall existence doesn't speak at all to the need to control this substance that destroys society as a whole. These substances are dangerous as they draw people in to a excessive and destuctive way.