End The War On Drugs - Chapter 3

A Society Rooted in Individual Liberty

EDITOR’S NOTE: A few years ago, I penned a first draft of a short book, “End The War On Drugs” I offer an updated version, in serial form, here on Substack, for my paid subscribers. I will publish a chapter each week.

CHAPTER 1: A Catastrophic Failure
CHAPTER 2: A Brief History

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While the bulk of the argument I will make against the War on Drugs is practical in nature, the moral underpinning of the argument is rooted in the premise and primacy of individual liberty and in the core principles of our nation.  If we presume that individuals own themselves and the fruits of their labor, if we presume that we are each endowed with certain inalienable rights (i.e. rights that can neither be given away nor taken away), then the premise that we can be prohibited from eating, drinking, inhaling or injecting whatever we want is indefensible.  It really is that simple.

I do not believe the State has the right to tell me what to put in my head. We have a law for free speech, free assembly, and so on. I think the same thing goes with respect to what I put into my body. I don't think the state has any more right to tell me what to put in my mouth than it has to tell me what can come out of my mouth. Those two are essentially the same thing—and they both are essential elements of freedom."  -- Milton Friedman

While some will do harm to themselves when they exercise their individual liberty - and not just with recreational drugs, there is nothing in the principles of liberty that permit the infringement of others' liberties because some do bad things to themselves under the premise of those liberties.