Drug Legalization Arguments for legalizing drugs Why drug

Drug Legalization

Arguments for legalizing drugs Why drug laws should be repealed

Benefits n Benefits of liberty n n n Benefits from drug use (pleasure, medicinal uses, social interaction) Experiments in living benefit others who learn from it Limiting choices harms everyone by limiting information

Liberty n Drug users are agents n n n Free Voluntary Informed They don’t threaten rights of others Mill’s bridge: can only warn of danger

Critique of Government Action n n You care most about your own good; you have stronger incentive to protect yourself than anyone else has to protect you You know most about your own good; your choices are more likely to lead to happiness than those anyone else might select

Costs n n n n Courts (case loads, costs, delays) Police ($20 billion/year) Prisons ($10 billion/year— 1/2 prison population there for drug-related offenses) Lost tax revenue: $10 billion/year

Increased Harms n n Enforcement is ineffective Increased harms from drugs n Switches to stronger, more easily concealed drugs with higher profit margins n No controls on quality, strength, contamination n No information about reasonable use

Other Harms n Other harms n n Corruption Violence Loss of respect for law (inconsistency) Injustice n n n “tyranny of the majority” racial profiling imprisoned African-Americans

Rates of imprisonment (100, 000) n United States: 546 n Georgia: 730 n Texas: 700 n Florida: 636 n California: 607 n n n Italy: 89 UK: 86 France: 84 Germany: 80 Holland: 51

Arguments for Drug Laws Why we shouldn’t legalize drugs

Harms to Users n n Drug laws succeed in discouraging use Legalization would increase harms to users n n More use, including underage use More addiction More illnesses, overdoses, deaths Less recovery; treatment succeeds only when compulsory

Harms to Others n n n Associates of users: family, friends, coworkers, customers, unborn Victims of users: victims of accidents, violence, crime Everyone else: increased health care, insurance costs, lost productivity

Voluntariness n Voluntariness (competence): Is an addict really exercising liberty? n n Voluntary slavery: Are we really “free not to be free”? Analogy: n n “give me your wallet or I’ll beat you up”— this is coercion, not freedom But withdrawal may be worse than a beating

Knowledge n Ignorance: Do drug users really have enough information to make reasonable choices? n n n Analogy: prescription drugs Drug education? Cognitive blindspot: Long-term consequences

Communitarian Arguments n n n Offense to others Moral harm n Agent: “debases the soul” n Others: bad example Social cohesion (expectations)

Liberal Arguments n Exploitation: drug suppliers would be using users, profiting from their weakness n n Cf. Big tobacco, big alcohol, etc. Support: insurance against weakness of will n Lower v. higher-order desires: we may want something we want not to want

Liberal Arguments n Risk Some drugs may be so harmful that it could never be reasonable to use them n Irrationality: we assume coercion, incompetence, or ignorance (Mill’s bridge) n

Conservative Arguments n Character Drug use impedes character development n Society is not just for adults n Laws must help mold children into responsible adults n

Conservative Arguments n Tradeoffs Other values are at stake: community, virtue, productivity, prosperity, safety, etc. n Increasing liberty to use drugs could place these in jeopardy n

Conservative Arguments n Tradition Long tradition of drug laws n Society is complicated; we must find best laws by experimenting over long time n Product of reasoned choices n Good guide to human nature n Can’t predict effects of legalization n