Legalizing Drugs.. What would our forefathers think?

TO BE CONTINUED :)

First what did they think about using substances themselves, and secondly what did they think that government should do about it.
Benjamin Franklin-

"Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls, and cloth, or the Gout will seize you and plague you both."

Believed adhering to temperance in food and drink would aid in making adhering to the other virtues easier.


Other notable figures in History-
I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it. ~ Robert E. Lee
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2s.htm - Aristotle



Government control of Temperance-

There is some rumor about what Abe Lincoln actually thought about Temperance.
So lets find out what our Forefathers really thought.

  "Prohibition...goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to
  control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things
  that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very
  principles upon which our government was founded."

     -- Abraham Lincoln
           December, 1840

This quote is said to be false.
Instead this is true
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/LincolnQuote/LPQ006.jpg

As far as I can find this is a legitimate quote
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others. But it does no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pockets nor breaks my leg. Thomas Jefferson Notes on Virginia (1782)
(It is often used to support the Democratic Party. HOWEVER who is the party that wants more taxes. Are not taxes just legalized stealing? Especially if one has voted against the tax?)


Some interesting websites
http://artofmanliness.com/2008/03/02/the-virtuous-life-temperance/
http://www.all-creatures.org/murti/next-28.html
http://www.school-for-champions.com/character/franklin_virtues.htm
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/samuel-adams/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States