I oppose marijuana legalization — on libertarian grounds

Last Sunday Margaret and I were driving home from church when an old Buick passed us. Within seconds the smell hit us — marijuana, punching through two sets of closed car windows. In that moment, I decided: Indiana is circling legalization, and I’m against it. I know that puts me on the wrong side of where this is heading. I’m putting my stake in the ground anyway. I’ve gotten a preview of what legalization looks like in practice. We have family in Michigan, where it’s legal. On a visit last year just as we crossed the state line we stopped to gas up. The smell hit us before I’d even inserted the nozzle into my tank — there was a dispensary next door. Later, walking to breakfast in Lansing, it was just in the air. Ambient. Inescapable. That’s what the governor of Indiana, Mike Braun, is signaling he’s ready to import here, as he’s recently expressed openness to legalization following a policy review. We already live this to some extent in Indianapolis, where since 2019 the county…