Drugs and Beer are the Keys to a College Student's Heart

This evening was a big one for the topic of drug legalization. It began with the new South Park episode chronicling the drug phenomenon of "cheesing" that sweeps South Park. In typical libertarian South Park fashion, the moral of this story was far from what we have come to expect from mainstream television- that is, the drug war is futile. The DEA can raid a town of all the cats (or drugs) that it wants, but this will not prove to be effective, and moreover, alternatives will be found. The full episode can be found here.

The next mention of drug legalization also came from Comedy Central on the Colbert Report in which Colbert interviewed the drug lobbyist from the Drug Policy Alliance Ethan Nadelman. The interview can be seen here.
These parodies surely received a warm reception from college students around the country regardless of whether or not they partake in drugs. Students regularly witness the failure of the war on drugs and many would also agree with the point that as individuals we should have the full right to govern what we put into our own bodies. After all, drugs never kept a President out of office (George Bush had quite the drug habit, nobody believes that Clinton didn't inhale, and people loved Obama more than ever upon hearing about his former trists with cocaine), and with all the other problems in the world today, these musings may have people thinking, "Why the War on Drugs?" At this point the only answer we seem to be getting is, "Why not."
The issues of the drug war and the drinking age may be the most effective ways for libertarians to connect with America's youth. Yes, the legalization of marijuana could become the gateway drug into the libertarian movement, and the sooner the major think tanks catch on to this, the better.