Legalizing All Drugs
Ok, everyone who reads this knows that I am all for the legalization of marijuana, but of late there has been a lot of talk in the press about legalizing all drugs. This is certainly an extreme view amongst legalization circles, and on this one I am not entirely decided. I mean on one hand, its not really my business what someone else injects into their body, if they want to kill themselves slowly or quickly that's their business, on the other hand many drugs are highly addictive and once a person starts its hard to stop, although I reject the notion that after one taste you can be hopelessly addicted to ANY substance for life, I don't care how addictive it is using anything once does not make you an adict.
The money that would be saved in enforcement would be beyond measure really, not to mention the income from taxation, but how much of that would just be redirected to health care due to deteriorating health. There is a simple solution to that and say you can't get treated under governemnt health plans for ailments resulting from dangerous behaviours, it has to come out of your own poket. This is something I am actually rather a proponent of, ie if you are an alchoholic and your liver has issues, you have to pay for the treatment, if you are a smoker and get lung cancer you have to pay for the treatment, if you are a meth adict you have to pay for the treatment to get you out. However accidents and general illnesses of course would be covered. Of course the problem with this line of thought is where do you draw the line? Is a skydiver elegiable for coverage if his shute malfunctions? Skydiving is a dangerous activity.
In my mind marijuana obviously should be legalized, the proven negative effects are so incredibly small as to not even count. There is no logical reason to keep marijuana illegal. Other drugs, I still am unsure about. Though, as with marijuana, regulation is always the better option to prohibition.
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Overall, I have a real problem with the notion of anybody being arrested for anything they do to themselves. Yes, highly addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin can lead people to break other laws to pay for their fixes. Then, the same can be said for our entire consumerist society. Most of us are addicted to lots and lots of expensive shit--so, to help pay for that stuff, the haves justify cheating on their taxes and all kinds of white collar crimes, as well as the cruelest forms of exploitation, and the have-nots steal stuff the old fashioned way. I don't see a big difference between that and a drug addiction.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with you on that one. What anyone does to themselves is really their own business, if they break any other laws then that's a different matter. I tend to think prohibition is a failed experiment, the way to handle it is perhaps jail dealers of the drugs that are extremely dangerous and addictive, but leave anyone else alone. Particularly if the dealer is pandering their wares to youth.
ReplyDeleteIn a perfect libertarian world, I'm with you guys. But we're not. Everybody expects someone else to pick up the tab for their misfortunes (or worse yet, their misdeeds). I like a nice hit of laughing buddha before breakfast and starting my day. I have had to pay for a detox kit to pass a drug test, and I was okay with that. But I type at a keyboard and my employer's liability is pretty limited. If I'm driving the Staten Island Ferry and kill 11 people its a whole different story. (yeah I know he was on prescription drugs)
ReplyDeleteI don't have the ultimate answer, but given how screwed up everything else is, this doesn't seem like a good answer. But I'm willing to listen.
Peepseo
Just because something is legal doesn't mean you are allowed to show up to work under the influence of said substance. In other words you get high before getting to work and you get fired. I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise. The question remains is why is it illegal for me to smoke up in my own home when I am only responsible for myself. Getting behind a vehicle's controls is a completely separate issue.
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