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I tend to agree with you, but just to play devil's advocate: what about negative externalities of personal consumption? How do you assign responsibility for bur
by pault 10y ago
I tend to agree with you, but just to play devil's advocate: what about negative externalities of personal consumption? How do you assign responsibility for burdens on health and social services caused by drug abuse? Someone has to pay to clean up those issues, and while the majority of drug users may be able to maintain their habits without major issues, the minority is a handful. I favor decriminalization, but I can see how a government, faced with the bill, and with only the power to legislate, would try to legislate the problem away.
- Danihan 10y agoYou make a completely valid point, but I can't help but find it very ironic that that socialization of medicine is used as justification for maintaining government overreach in the war on drugs. Along the same lines, if someone weighs 500 pounds and yet eats 6000 calories day, it's the same issue. How much should society intervene on people who are absurdly self-destructive. How much freedom should people have to damage themselves so much that society has to pay to rescue them from themselves. There are lots of places you could draw that line.