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> The libertarian argument against prohibition boils down to this: The government can't stop people from doing anything, it can only punish people after they've
by chimeracoder 11y ago
> The libertarian argument against prohibition boils down to this: The government can't stop people from doing anything, it can only punish people after they've done it. Substance abuse is something we'd really rather people didn't do
I am not a libertarian, but I have worked in drug policy reform advocacy groups, and a number of my colleagues were libertarians. This is not at all an accurate description of the prototypical libertarian argument against prohibition.
- twblalock 11y agoYeah, the libertarian argument is basically that people ought to be able to do what they want with their own bodies, including consuming drugs, and that it's not the government's business if they endanger themselves. If drugs become legalized, the system that gets created will not fit the libertarian vision.
- hutzlibu 11y agoWell, I support an experiment to test your claims. The limited ones of decriminalizing seems to support the libertarian claims.
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoAt least the bellwethers in Colorado et al seem pretty consistent with what libertarians might think ok.
- twblalock 11y agoThats because weed does not destroy peoples minds and bodies like crack and heroin do. There is therefore no need for public health interventions on the scale of what would happen if more dangerous drugs were legalized.
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoCan't speak to crack/meth but junkies seem to be able to last a good long while. Dr. Carl Hart has interesting things to say on the whole subject. One of his ideas - most addicts just quit. There is much that is unknown on the subject.
- thescriptkiddie 11y agoI didn't mean to insinuate that libertarian-leaning individuals universally abhor substance abuse and believe that the government should do something about it. I mean that the argument is if the government wants to reduce substance abuse, any attempts to accomplish this through force of law are futile.