Firstly, even if you disagree with every last thing I have to say on this subject, you should still vote for me. I could propose any legislation I wanted and Congress would never pass it because there is not popular support for it, I am just going to tell you what I personally believe on the subject.

One thing Libertarians are often criticized for, is the perception that they all want to legalize drugs. This simply is not true. Sure, some Libertarians do. More than that, some drug users hear that we want to legalize drugs and start calling themselves Libertarians.

For most of us the drug debate has nothing to do with drugs. The question is one of property rights. The body is the property of the soul who inhabits it, and they may do as they please with their property so long as the do not violate the natural rights of another. And just as one may take an old chair and burn it up in my fireplace, destorying it, the individual has the right to destroy whatever other property they see fit to destroy. If we are to tell people what they may or may not introduce into their bodies, to do so would be exert some ownership over their bodies, and one who does not own their own body, is a slave.

I have been to too many funerals not to understand the public fear surrounding drugs, when I was younger I did drugs and associated with people who used drugs, and I have seen some things I wish I could unsee as a result. Drugs are horrible and no prudent adult could advocate their use. The power of addiction is a terrifying one, that has ended or otherwise damaged far too many lives.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want people to be accurately educated as to their dangers.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to keep them out of the hands of children

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to take away the incentive to sell them in schools

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to lower crime, like the 21st Amendment did.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to prevent the government from handing an industry that generates over $100 Billion a year in revenue to criminals.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to add $100 Billion a year to GDP.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to criminalize the kidnapping and imprisonment of peaceful people who have not violated anyones rights.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to prevent the government from telling people what to eat.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to prevent the government from telling people what plants they may and may not grow in their gardens.

I don't want to legalize drugs, I want to lower taxes by reducing the ever increasing need to build and maintain prisons

I don't want to legalize drugs, I simply believe Congress lacks the Constitutional Authority to outlaw them.

Think about it, if Congress has the Constitutional Authority to outlaw drugs, then for what reason did we need to ratify the 18th Amendment to outlaw alcohol?

Think about it, if Congress has the Constitutional Authority to outlaw drugs, then for what reason did we need to ratify the 21st Amendment to end prohibition?

Further, ending the federal war on drugs does not legalize drugs. It simply puts the legislative power back in the hands of the states. The second section of the 21st Amendment states "The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited." Ending the federal war on drugs does not impose drugs upon the states, any more than the 21st Amendment imposed alcohol on the states, you have plenty of "dry counties" in America. I wouldn't want to live in one, but you're more than welcome to. Any state that wants to keep its drug laws on the books is welcome to do so, I'm not running for State Senate, I am running for the United States House of Representatives.

13 states have already passed some form of medical marijuana legislation in direct violation of federal law.

This broad interpretation of the commerce clause is why we face so much other bad legislation, the United States Federal Government does not gain power with the passing of time, it only gains power by way of amending the Constitution.

Most of us grew up in the age of federal drug prohibition, so we are just used to the world we grew up in. But if you look at the noble experiment of prohibition, you see a drastic increase in crime, and men like Al Capone became heroes to many. The time after we passed the 21st Amendment ending prohibition saw a drastic drop in crime.

Well, if we start to look closer at the world we live in now, you can see the hero worship placed on drug dealers (and people who pretend to be drug dealers) in the rap music industry. You can see that the majority of the crime we deal with now is drug related, and much of that is not addicts stealing or being violent to support their habits, it is enforcement of contracts and protection of assets by drug dealers who do not have the benefit of government law enforcement to achieve such goals. When a person is made to be a criminal just for possessing something they feel the right to possess, it takes away all incentive not to commit other crimes like theft.

Knowing what we know about how the world works, having seen right here in America, the drop in crime after ending prohibition, what makes anyone think the war on drugs is improving our lives? What makes anyone think that ending the war on drugs wouldn't drastically lower crime and improve our quality of life?