Our Right to Drugs Essay example - 898 Words

Our Right to Drugs You might be tempted to label Thomas Szasz, author of Our Right to Drugs, The Case for a Free Market, a counter-culture hippie. However, this analysis couldn’t be further from the truth. Szasz, a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, is a major supporter of civil liberties. He sees the so-called War on Drugs as one of the worst atrocities that the American Government has perpetrated on its people. Szasz contends that the prohibition of certain drugs, including common prescription drugs, is nothing more than the government telling the people that father knows best. It is this paternalistic attitude that Szasz finds so oppressive. Mr.†¦show more content†¦In this system of laissez-faire, the government has a very small role. According to Szasz, the government should have a passive role in any market, including the market for drugs. Once the government gives up its active role, which is represented by the war on drugs, a free market for drugs which Szasz proposes can be attained. As we delve into Mr. Szasz’s first argument, we begin to see major problems with the government’s War on Drugs. According to Szasz, the prohibition of drugs is a blatant violation of human rights guaranteed to American citizens by the Constitution. In order to prove his point, he equates drugs to personal property. According to the Constitution, every American citizen shall have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and property, the first two elements resting squarely on the last. (Szasz, 1). Thus, Szasz contends that because both our bodies and drugs are types of property—producing, trading in, and using drugs are property rights, and drug prohibitions constitute a deprivation of basic constitutional rights. (Szasz, 2). In other words, just like the prohibition of alcohol required a constitutional amendment, so does the prohibition of drugs. Without that amendment, the prohibition of drugs is in direct violation of theShow MoreRelatedFreedom of Drugs â€Å"We have found grassy solitude right here on the riverfront – our own meadow,700 Words   |  3 PagesFreedom of Drugs â€Å"We have found grassy solitude right here on the riverfront – our own meadow, boxed in by concrete. It’s small, but on psychedelics your interpretation is everything. Everything looks pixelated, glowing red and blue with whispers of green. If this were a television, the reception would be clear. The level of detail is overwhelming. From the smallest patch of grass I can take in the whole of human civilization, the planet, the whole damn universe (Grapples par. 3,2)† ThroughoutRead MoreThe Article A World Split Apart 856 Words   |  4 Pagesyoung people’s right not to look or not to accept. 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