I wish you and your parent would stick with Occam's Razor on this one. There really are a large percentage of reasonably minded people who think that legalizing drugs would cause more harm than good. Considering that alcohol has well-known negative effects on society, and is legal, it's not as if these folks' concerns are outrageous.
I'm fully, passionately on board with legalizing drugs, but accusing your opponents of intellectual dishonesty all the time only impresses people who already agree with you.
Well when I said that I wasn't trying to claim that everyone who supports the current drug laws was being intellectually dishonest.
I was trying to say that I think the reason law enforcement (at all levels) pursues the 'drug war' so assertively is that it justifies a lot of spending, manpower, and surveillance, which may be good or bad.
When something pays the bills and gives you a little more latitude to operate, you'll find ways to justify it whether you are winning or losing.
I'm fully, passionately on board with legalizing drugs, but accusing your opponents of intellectual dishonesty all the time only impresses people who already agree with you.