Yet those same plants contain psychoactive drugs just as those pills do. I am all for drug decriminalization/legalization but this is seriously a stupid argument. There's no logical consistency in treating a drug differently just because you can grow it.

I don't know if this is what libertyEQ was getting at, but generally the argument here is that it's notoriously difficult to regulate/criminalize things that literally "grow on trees". It requires hardly any infrastructure or industry to produce these substances. Thus, without some degree of legalization it's virtually impossible to prevent black markets from popping up.

I think the argument is more around the potency of a thing (although plant strains can become very potent as well). Just like naturally fermented berries have a different effect compared to distilled spirits.

That makes more sense, although I would wager the parent probably doesn't have anything against LSD or THC concentrate.

That sounds like you are making an unfair assumption about my beliefs and my understanding is that we are supposed to be charitable in our assumptions for the benefit of discussion on HN. I made the distinction about lab synthesis (i.e. LSD) and plant material (i.e. marijuana). Now you have erected a straw man on my behalf where I can't tell the difference between purified plant material, raw plant material, and synthesized compounds. is that your intent?