Since we’re considering issues that may or may not flare moral indignation in some, pd, once you’ve legalized drug use and prostitution, would you place any age limits on those “activities”? If it’s morally acceptable for society to nudge along legalized prostitution (and, IMO, by removing laws against it that is exactly what we’d be doing), would it make any sense to draw any sort of line at all? If society and government says it is perfectly acceptable for an 18 year old to sell her (or his) body, what’s wrong with a 17 year old doing it? 16? What about 15 or younger? The same quandary applies with drug use. Once it’s legalized, what sense would it make to enforce any age limits? If we tell an 18 year old, “Hey, it’s your life – snort that coke, if you want”, why should we tell the 17 and younger crowd anything different? I’m not arguing that by legalizing prostitution and drug use, every one of America’s teenagers would suddenly transform into millions of junkies and prostitutes (although I believe you’d see an increase in both areas), but aren’t laws meant to discourage behavior? I realize the effectiveness of the drug and prostitution laws can certainly be debated, but by removing them, isn’t society implicitly (or explicitly, for some) saying that there is nothing MORALLY wrong in selling yourself (or having someone sell you – we haven’t even discussed those ramifications yet) or providing a kid with drugs? I’m not going on a Christian-charged rant here, but I ask these questions from a pure humanist perspective. What would it say about society if we legally permitted two of the most physically and psychologically destructive activities imaginable, adopting a laissez-faire attitude toward both? The things you seemingly dismiss as “vices” have ruined literally millions of lives and destroyed family after family. You act like prostitution and drug use should be lumped in with activities like golf and line dancing – perfectly acceptable in moderation. Or is your main concern the amount of cash Washington and Harrisburg could rake in annually by turning prostitutes and addicts into yet another steady “revenue source”?

Again, our laws in these areas aren’t perfect, and I personally believe we should re-orient our anti-drug efforts toward rehabilitation. However, this is no reason to scrap our legal efforts entirely and adopt the “if it feels good, tax it” utilitarian method of thinking. There are things nobody should be able to make money off, pd – not even the government.