Reply #150: All I would say is, Al Capone was a product of prohibition.

[Warren DeMontague]

Legalization, regulation and the like would take the organized crime element out of the equation IMHO.

Although I beg to differ that there's no relation between being pro-choice on reproductive rights and pro-choice on other issues; I think the notion that the government has the "right" to tell consenting adults what they can or can't do with their own bodies ties into the abortion debate, just as it ties into the drug war, just as it ties into the fight to let the sick manage their own pain without fear of the DEA--- and the terminally ill to choose a pain-free exit on their own terms.

The notion that "we", our physical persons, belong to the state is a direct outgrowth of the Western Religious concept that people's bodies belong to "God", and if you scratch the surface, it is one of the philosophical pillars underpinning the so-called "pro life" movement.

All those issues are about people being able to make their own decisions about their own bodies, as far as I'm concerned.