The War on Drugs Is a War on Freedom ---- so is the war on the muzzies redribbon.org/contest
On Oct 5, 8:02 am, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > The War on Drugs Is a War on Freedomby Laurence M. VanceIntroduction to > Laurence M. Vance,The War on Drugs Is a War on Freedom(Vance Publications, > 2012), xvi + 103 pgs., paperback, $9.95.This is not a book about the benefits > of drugs; this is a book about the benefits of freedom. I neither use illegal > drugs nor recommend their use to anyone else. I am even skeptical about the > health benefits of most legal drugs. > So why this book? Because I believe in freedom. I believe in individual > liberty, private property, personal responsibility, a free market, a free > society, and a government as absolutely limited as possible. I also believe > that my perspective on this subject is unique. > The nineteen essays in this book were all written between October 2009 and > July 2012. One was published in the journalFreedom Daily, another in the > magazineTheNew American, one appeared online as aMises Dailyarticle, another > was a column at LewRockwell.com, and the rest were first written asFuture of > Freedom Foundation Commentaries. Each essay is reprinted verbatim. The source > and date of each essay is indicated below its title. Because the essays are > arranged only in chronological order, each one can be read independently of > the others. All the essays that originally appeared online had links to > document my quotations and sources. These can easily be accessed online > should the reader be interested. I would like to again thank the editors of > the various publications who first published these essays. > The book’s first essay, "The Drugs of John Gray" (the allusion to the title > of the novelThe Picture of Dorian Grayis intentional), although acknowledging > that the philosopher John Gray makes a strong case for drug legalization, > argues that his "unanswerable" argument is weak because it is not based on > the freedom to take drugs for freedom’s sake. > In "The Moral Case for Drug Freedom," I argue that it is neither the job of > government nor the business of any individual to prohibit, regulate, > restrict, or otherwise control what a man desires to eat, drink, smoke, > inject, absorb, snort, sniff, inhale, swallow, or otherwise ingest into his > body. And that there is no ethical precept in any religion or moral code that > should lead anyone to believe that it is the job of government to do these > things. I do not argue for the benefits of drugs, only for the benefits of > freedom. A version of "The Moral Case for Drug Freedom" was first presented > at the 2010 Austrian Scholars Conference at the Mises Institute in Auburn, > Alabama. > "The Case against Medical Marijuana" is actually the case against demonizing > a plant and for the legalization of all drugs on an equal basis. It was > originally written after Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis > Act, was rejected by California voters in November of 2010. > The book’s fourth essay asks the question: "Why Don’t Conservatives Oppose > the War on Drugs?" Here I point out that the reason conservatives should > oppose the war on drugs is a simple one that has nothing to do with the > failures and evils of the drug war. Drug prohibition by the federal > government is simply unconstitutional. In fact, nowhere does the Constitution > authorize the federal government to ban any substance. Conservatives who > claim to revere the Constitution should be ardently opposed to the drug war > on the federal level just as much as libertarians. > In "Drug-Warrior Hypocrisy," I maintain that the paternalism of statists is > at its worse when it comes to the war on drugs. Drug warriors are hypocrites > because every bad thing that could be said regarding drug abuse could also be > said of alcohol abuse – and even more so. Yet, in spite of the negative > effects of alcohol on morals and health, few Americans would like to return > to the days of Prohibition. > In "The Drug War Is Expanding," I tackle the issue of the use of bath salts > as a hallucinogen. It is no more the job of government to address this recent > phenomenon than it is for the government to have anything to do with pot > smoking or cocaine snorting. Once government is elevated to such a level that > it is allowed to determine what people can and can’t ingest, or regulate the > circumstances under which something can be lawfully ingested, there is no > stopping its reach. > "Baseball, Steroids, and a Free Society" was written after Barry Bonds was > found guilty of obstructing justice in an April 2011 trial for his 2007 > indictment. Here I argue that in a free society Major League Baseball would > make its own drug policy and the government would not be involved in any way. > In "U.S. Attorneys Crack Down on the Tenth Amendment," I explain how the > federal government, in cracking down on providers and users of medical > marijuana in the states where it has been legalized, is actually cracking > down on the Tenth Amendment. The crackdown on marijuana by U.S. attorneys is > an attack on the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, the principle of > federalism, and the very nature of our republic. Congress has been granted no > power to ban, regulate, or otherwise interfere with the production, sale, > distribution, possession, or use of marijuana for the simple reason that it > has no authority over any drug. > In "Why Is the U.S. Fighting Mexico’s Drug War?," I examine Mexico’s war on > drugs and how the United States is intimately involved in it. I conclude that > the United States should not only stop funding and participating in the > Mexican drug war, but likewise end the futile and destructive war on drugs in > America. > "The 40-Year War on Freedom" is the account of how President Nixon declared a > war on drugs in 1971. I also argue in this essay that the war on drugs is > incompatible with a free society because once the government claims control > over what a man smokes, snorts, sniffs, inhales, or otherwise ingests into > his body, there is no limit to its power. > In "The War on Drugs Is Senseless," I discuss the new cigarette warning > labels and conclude thatifthe government is going to make a harmful substance > illegal, then it seems logical that that substance should be tobacco. The > number of annual deaths caused by all drugs – legal and illegal – pales in > comparison with deaths caused by tobacco. > In "The Other Unconstitutional War," I focus on the unconstitutionality of > the drug war, but also point out many of its evils. The war on drugs has > increased the size and scope of government. The war on drugs has served as a > pretext for a war on individual liberty and private property. The war on > drugs entails Soviet-style central planning by the federal government. No > American who has any respect for the Constitution, federalism, and the > limited government established by the Founders should endorse, support, or > defend the federal war on drugs, regardless of his political persuasion, > religion, or moral code. > "Drug Testing for Welfare Benefits" explores the absurdity of the whole idea. > In a libertarian, that is, a free society based on voluntary cooperation and > contracts instead of government coercion and regulations, both > drug-prohibition laws and welfare benefits would be illegitimate. > In "Drug-Sentencing Disparities," I explain how sentencing for drug crimes is > extremely arbitrary in nature. The solution to the madness that is drug > sentencing laws is not to reduce some sentences and increase others in order > to eliminate disparity and racism, but to eliminate any sentences for > possessing or selling a substance the government doesn’t approve of. It is a > national disgrace that the United States leads the world in the incarceration > rate and in the total prison population. > In "Three Views on the Drug War," I contrast the libertarian and > prohibitionist views on the drug war, and the confusing mass of > inconsistency, hypocrisy, and nonsense that lies between them. Individual > liberty and personal freedom are the farthest things from the minds of > partial prohibitionists who want the drug war to be altered in some way but > not eliminated. > In "Should Christians Support the War on Drugs?," I ask and then answer the > question in the negative. Christians shouldn’t support the government’s war > on drugs any more than they should support the government’s wars on poverty, > obesity, dietary fat, cholesterol, cancer, and tobacco. Christians are making > a grave mistake by looking to the state to legislate morality. Although drug > abuse is a great evil, the war on drugs is an even greater evil. It is simply > not biblical to promote legislation or crusades to punish sin that does not > aggress against person or property. > In "The Drug War: Cui Bono?," I point out that some groups of people support > the drug war because they have something to gain from it. I discuss how the > drug war benefits drug dealers, alcohol distributors, the prison industry, > law enforcement, and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. I also > mention physicians and the pharmaceutical industry, state and federal > prosecutors, judges and lawyers, the CIA and the FBI, the drug-testing and > addiction-recovery industries, and any group receiving federal funds for > anti-drug campaigns. > In "Twelve Victims of the Drug War," I delineate twelve victims of the Drug > War that are rarely considered: the Constitution, the English language, the > American taxpayer, common sense, people who conduct business with cash, > people with allergies, crime, law-abiding Americans, law enforcement, people > who suffer with genuine pain, doctors who prescribe pain medicine, and > individual liberty. > The last essay in the book, "Why the War on Drugs Should Be Ended," is a > no-holds-barred defense of absolute drug freedom. There are many reasons for > ending the drug war, and I even list twenty-six of them, but the drug war > should not be ended simply for logical, pragmatic, and utilitarian reasons. I > conclude that the war on drugs should be ended because it is a war on the > free market, a free society, and freedom itself. > As long as there is a war on drugs, the essays in this book will remain > timely. Yes, there is some repetition throughout the book. But this is > because the evils of the drug war never change and because the hypocrisy of > drug warriors is unrelenting. And in the end, it always comes down to the > issue of property and freedom versus badges and guns > For further reading, I recommend the following books, but not necessarily > everything in them that doesn’t relate to the war on freedom known as the war > on drugs: > Block, Walter.Defending the Undefendable. San Francisco: Fox & Wilkes, 1991. > Duke, Steven B., and Albert C. Gross.America’s Longest War: Rethinking Our > Tragic Crusade Against Drugs. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1993. > Fish, Jefferson M., ed.How to Legalize Drugs. Northvale: Jason Aronson, 1998. > Fox, Steve, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert.Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We > Driving People to Drink?White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing Co., > 2009. > Harsanyl, David.Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, > Priggish Moralists, and Other Boneheaded Bureaucrats Are Turning America into > a Nation of Children. New York: Broadway Books, 2007. > Healy, Gene, ed.Go Directly to Jail: The Criminalization of Almost > Everything. Washington DC: Cato Institute, 2004. > Huebert, Jacob H.Libertarianism Today. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2010. > McWilliams, Peter.Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of > Consensual Crimes in a Free Society. Los Angeles: Prelude Press, 1993. > Miller, Joel.Bad Trip: How the War on Drugs is Destroying America. Nashville: > WND Books, 2004. > Napolitano, Andrew P.It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is > Wrong: The Case for Personal Freedom. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011. > Okrent, Daniel.Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. New York: > Scribner, 2010. > Silverglate, Harvey A.Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. > New York: Encounter Books, 2009. > Stossel, John.No, They Can’t: Why Government Fails – But Individuals Succeed. > New York: Threshold Editions, 2012. > Szasz, Thomas.Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market. Westport: > Prager Publishers, 1992. > Thornton, Mark.The Economics of Prohibition. Salt Lake City: University of > Utah Press, 1991.http://lewrockwell.com/vance/vance306.html -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
