Apocryphal means it didn't happen. Stuff like this in fact happens all the time. So does child abuse and neglect due to alcohol for that matter. M
The point isn't to say that these drugs should be illegal. It's to be intellectually honest about what proponents of drug enforcement are really basing their decisions on. They're not taking on the high functioning hipster who smokes week on the weekends. There are real problems caused by drug use that are a factor in people's decisions.
One thing that seems to be missing from your replies is an acknowledgement that the criminal justice system is likely not a particularly effective way to repair the problem(s) that you've highlighted. I think we'd do well to at least discuss the possibility that there are better ways to handle your child neglect example than locking up the parents and throwing away the key. We need to focus on harm reduction and the medical treatment of addiction if we really care about the safety of the child in your example.
I've never understood it to be a strong claim that something didn't happen, merely that the particular events described are not well established. It doesn't seem inappropriate for something given as a second-hand report in a web forum, and it's certainly no claim that similar stuff doesn't happen.
>They're not taking on the high functioning hipster who smokes weed on the weekends.
Actually, they are, insofar as they advocate laws that make no distinction for that case, regardless of how much the users are willing to eg pay for the costs associated with such a setup.
Does the US criminal justice system make any allowance for the high functioning hipster? If that person gets stopped for a traffic offence and happens to have a small amount of cannabis on them what happens?
The point isn't to say that these drugs should be illegal. It's to be intellectually honest about what proponents of drug enforcement are really basing their decisions on. They're not taking on the high functioning hipster who smokes week on the weekends. There are real problems caused by drug use that are a factor in people's decisions.