Weed legalized in Cali and age to buy Tobacco is raised to 21. Seems weird to celebrate both.

[DanTex]

41. The OP isn't talking about outlawing nicotine. Nobody is.

Also, I've never heard anyone talking about outlawing the swimsuit issue. Those are red herrings.

I have, however, heard people advocating for getting rid of, or at least privatizing, social security. After all, social security is an infringement on personal freedom: it forces people to save for retirement against their will. And it also forces those people to put their savings in something secure. Without it, there is ample evidence that people would not save enough, and would invest their savings stupidly.

Which must really bother you. It's a much bigger government intrusion than the war on drugs: tens of millions of people, maybe hundreds, if not coerced by the nanny state, would let themselves become utterly destitute in old age. And they would be hurting nobody but themselves. It drives libertarians nuts that the government doesn't just let these people "choose" to live their old age in total poverty.

And, yeah, if you try to not pay into social security, you will be charged with tax evasion, which is a crime. Do you have a lot of trouble figuring that one out? It meets all your criteria: you're only screwing yourself, and the government is trying to stop you, by force of law and threat of imprisonment, from making your own choice about your own life. How is that, in principle, any different from a drug law? It's actually worse, from a libertarian perspective, because drug laws are aimed at dealers, whereas social security is squarely aimed at individuals who would otherwise make poor financial planning choices.

Look, I agree that people shouldn't be thrown in jail for using drugs, only for selling. And as far as pot is concerned, I think it should be legal to sell also. Not based on libertarian dogma, just based on cost-benefit analysis. Pot is not addictive, it's not very harmful, it's a good time, so whatever, let people sell it. Heroin is a different story. As is using anesthetics as sleeping pills.

And by the way, the fact that a wealthy celebrity got hold of dangerous anesthetics is a really really horrible argument that the current system of regulating medical pharmaceuticals is a failure. Very few people die from using anesthetics as sleeping pills, and the reason for this is that, thankfully, the FDA doesn't subscribe to your libertarian philosophy.

The guiding principle shouldn't be libertarianism, it should be cost-benefit analysis.