" Drugs rob you of your free will. They force you to stop doing what you love, and instead focus your life on obtaining more drugs. Nothing could be less American. "

That's not true.

Psychoactive drugs change your state of mind and perceptions. Not all bad. Chasing the good can be addictive and THEN if people can't control themselves then you have a problem. Most people aren't addictive. Further, Dr. Gabor Maté says that addictive people are running from something else and if they can address that then they can deal with the addiction.

Further evidence is Portugal where all drugs are decriminalized - and countless other nations where the "drug problem" is not remotely as severe as in the USA. There are MANY factors at play in the US - from Big Pharma to Cocaine Import Agency to Military Industrial Complex guarding poppy fields to Prison Industrial Complex to the socioeconomic and poverty pressures.

" There are some very dangerous drugs out there which were better off left undiscovered. "

Very true. So dangerous you might think they were weaponized.