Using his typical dry sense of humor, Crispin Sartwell just poked a needle in the eye of drug prohibitionists. Here’s a sneak peak:
As Mexican President Vicente Fox backs off a bill to legalize possession of small quantities of illegal drugs, including cocaine and heroin, it is worth remembering some of the obvious reasons why drugs should remain illegal.
For one thing, as many have argued, the unenforceable prohibition on drugs brings the law into contempt. When average citizens of your country know they are criminals, they lose respect for law and for the agents of the law.
But contempt for the law is the sure — indeed really the only — sign of a free people. People who respect the law simply on the grounds that it is law deserve every nasty little thing that happens to them after that. They ought to spend some time cultivating moral and intellectual autonomy.
I, personally, doubt that ending the war on drugs could reduce the contempt — verging on total — with which any decent American regards the law. For that, we’d have to legalize, speeding, tax evasion, and gay marriage. Still, we must move with circumspection.
You’ll have to read the rest of the column to find out why Sartwell concludes with this sentence: “And that is why keeping drugs illegal is saving the American dream.”
sucker, ʟʟᴄ