Drugs ...

So, until recently, I did not even consider the idea that drugs should be legalized in society. They are harmful, no good will come of it, legalizing them will increase the number of people who try them, so just keep it the way it is. I didn't really care about marijuana, except that its legalization would probably lead, eventually, to the question of hard drugs being legalized, so it is best not to go down that path. Then I discussed it with some people. Most of them simply accused me of being against drugs for moral reasons, or this or that, but some of them were really willing to sit down and discuss the issues rationally and reasonably, and it was a very interesting argument.

Some of their points I didn't agree with, but the idea that people should be allowed to make their own mistakes is a pretty overwhelming one. Does the government have the right to tell people to do things "for their own good"? If somebody wants to take a drug which might kill them, should they be allowed to? People should have the freedom to choose, as long as it is choosing with full knowledge of the risks.

I came to the conclusion even before this that virtually no drugs should be available by prescription only. Twice the reccomended dose of Tylonol can kill you, so why make something less harmful available by prescription only? Besides, doctors can be pretty careless about prescribing drugs, so maybe the idea that drugs are available even without doctor approval will cause people to take a more active roll in their treatment process.

So what is it that makes drugs something which should be illegal? Dangerous drugs will be available off the shelf if prescriptions are gotten rid of. People should be able to make their own choices.

The one question which is still left to be answered for me is that of addiction. I only said that most prescription drugs should be available without a prescription because I was excluding the addictive ones. People should be free to make their own choices, but addictive drugs actually minimize freedom in the (not too) long run. I am not talking about cigarettes or alcohol, or coffee, or sugar. Anything can be addictive in some way, but I am talking about the highly physically addictive drugs. Opiates such as heroine (and morphine) are the ones which come to mind for me, but maybe there are more. The thing is that, on those, once you start, it is very difficult to stop. Furthermore, they interfere with day to day functioning in all aspects of life. Do people have the right to take away their own freedom? Do others have the right to (by giving them drugs) take away other people's freedom?

The government shouldn't regulate things based on preventing us from doing stuff which could kill us (driving cars could kill us), or from doing stuff which could cause health problems later on (hamburgers should not be banned, either), but, when someone is addicted to a drug, that is a severe limitation on the person's freedom in a number of ways. Freedom is essentially maximized by not allowing physically addictive drugs to be sold, or sold without a prescription.

I guess that brings us to another question, which is, is it the government's role to stay out of people's business, or to maximize freedom?

If it were the government's role to just stay out of other people's business, we would essentially have an anarchy. The counter argument to this is that there is no victim, and the person chooses to give up their freedom. I would tend to argue that the person buying the drugs is the victim, and that, since they are only buying the drug by choice the first couple of times, it is not a choice, for the most part. A lot of people might disagree with this, because it is consentual, but it is irreversible and life damaging. Ultimately, freedom is severely inhibited. Even accepting this, the question is whether you can prosecute a victim for becoming a victim, and the answer is surely not. You can, however, prosecute the person selling the drugs.

So, I guess what I would tend toward is a prosecution of people selling highly addictive drugs.