Someone who uses drugs in their own home isn't hurting anyone. There's plenty of funtioning alcoholics out there and there are plenty of funtioning drug users. Forcing school apparently isn't working anyway, with dropouts rates in many cities above 50% now. Might as well save the state money for kids who care. And as long as I don't crash into anyone else, I should be able to go as fast as I want. (The last one is a stretch I know.) Either way, I believe abortion has consequences to society too. One, people become whores, increasing STD rates. (I'd have to find proof of this, but it has to be true.) Two, awful presidents are elected simply because they don't like abortion. Three, helps increase divorce rates. (Which could be a good thing, who knows.) Although, abortion does have positives like I said. Crime/Poverty both dropped 18 years after we legalized it. Now if we'd just start heartlessly executing all people who bring society down, we'd be good to go.
Edit: The age thing was more about drinking, smoking, voting, etc. Who are we to tell 8 year olds that they cannot drink and smoke. Don't try and tell me it's because they have undeveloped and immature minds because technically our minds aren't done maturing until we're around 26. I believe we're restricting the free will and the right to choose of children.
In their own home is the key part with drugs. If you legalize it, you can't force myself to do it in their home (I'm generally pro-legalization on some drugs- Marijuana for cancers patients at the very least). There are plenty of functioning alcohols and drug users, but by the same token, there are plenty who aren't really functioning, or are functioning until they go overboard. I'm not anti-drug or alcohol by any mean, but generally restricting these things in some manner are good ideas. Yes, you can do them safety in your own home, but you can't force people to do them in their own home. Once you do it outside your home, it's something with the potential to effect everyone else.
If forcing school is keeping even a few kids in that might otherwise drop out, then it's a good thing. In fact, they should be erecting more barriers to try to keep kids in school, not removing them. Tighten up working requirements so that getting a job without a high school diploma or without being in high school is damn difficult. Don't let drop-out children be claimed on a parent's tax returns, or have it even count against them. They really should be doing whatever they possibly can within the limits of legality to stop this. Getting them to actually learn something is a whole different issue, but I'd personally just see make higher graduating requirements and keep those working restrictions in place no matter what age a person is.
Abortion probably doesn't help sluttiness rates, but the rise of teenage mothers, let alone teenage mothers with two children, shows that there are probably larger problems at play there than abortion. If people catch an STD and then still engage in reckless sexual practices though, I can't imagine the legality of abotion is really going to effect them much.
Minds may not be done maturing until they are 26, but that doesn't mean that an 8 year old should be given decision making powers. An 18 year old is still a lot closer to having a fully mature mind than an 8 year old. Sure, age isn't the best barometer of maturity given that there are 40 year olds who probably shouldn't be making their own decisions, but it's the only semi-accurate and realistic one that we have. (Alternately, higher penalties on stuff like this for high school dropouts? Inability to legally buy cigarettes or alcohol could be another incentive to stay-in-school. Not a pretty one by any means, but they really do need to use everything they have). Children should not have free will or the right to choose to do whatever they want.
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