When should drugs be illegal?
Truly hardcore libertarians would say never; everything should be legal, there should never be any legal controls on pretty much anything that doesn’t directly kill people, there’s nothing wrong with a crack house next to a school, etc.
I’ve gotten pretty close to that position myself, at times. It has a lot of intellectual appeal, but of course that appeal fades when one sees actual crack houses near actual schools, and the effects on the kids who go to those schools.
I divide drugs and other pharmaceutical substances into three categories, and of course all right-thinking people agree with me. (About the three categories, not necessarily about which drugs go where. That’s a question for the political process to determine.)
Category One: Drugs which are so incredibly and obviously destructive that the state should probably step in, if the populace wants it to, and devote police resources to trying to stamp them out. I would put heroin, amphetamines, and crack cocaine into this category.
Category Two: Drugs that some people have very destructive relationships with, that other people are able to handle reasonably well, and that some people can completely take or leave with impunity. I would put alcohol, pot, tobacco, quaaludes, prescription downers, and most “recreational” drugs into this category.
Category Three: Drugs that most everyone can handle reasonably well, and that hardly anyone has a major life-threatening problem with. I put caffeine, chocolate, and other “food” drugs in this category.
With Category Three drugs, there is never any justification for state intervention. Suck down all the Jolt Colas you want. Have some more M&Ms.
With Category One drugs, if the populace agrees that a drug is that destructive, then there should be a full-fledged civil-rights-infringing, door-breaking-down, drug-interdiction-boat “War On Drugs” for those substances.
With Category Two drugs, such state intervention is incredibly dumb. But at the same time, there is that population of people for whom the particular drug in question really is highly problematic. The pothead who is never not high (with all the concomitant lovely lifestyle issues that this tends to correlate with); the wino living in the gutter because she can’t get off the sauce long enough to get a shower and a job; the five-pack-a-day smoker committing suicide on the installment plan.
As a libertarian, I don’t think it’s the state’s business to force these people into making better lifestyle choices. However, as a humanitarian, I think it is legitimate for the state to help these people make better lifestyle choices if they want it to.
I propose a voluntary prohibition on certain substances. If you know that you’re an alcoholic, you can go register with the state, and the state will harshly penalize anyone who sells you liquor. When you show your ID at the liquor store or the restaurant or the bar, the computer flashes the big “No” sign, and the clerk politely but firmly reminds you that you’re not allowed to drink. The grocery store checkout lady tells you sorry, ma’am, you’re on the do-not-sell-cigarettes list. Pot and other Category Two drugs being legalized, the same thing happens for those substances. You can revoke your banned status during an open disenrollment period held periodically, to prevent people in the throes of withdrawal from slipping back in a moment of weakness.
I think it is a legitimate use of state power to help police people who are asking to be policed. This system would avoid the wasteful foolishness of productive, otherwise law-abiding members of society going to jail for smoking a joint once in a while. At the same time, it would let the people with serious drug problems who want to change get tough-love type support from the government. As an added bonus, private charities could use the no-sell registries to more strongly enforce their own policies – “of course you can stay in our homeless shelter, friend – but we don’t permit you to drink, and you will have to go on the no-drinking register for us to be able to help you.”
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
