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Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Eastern Ontario
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:10 pm Post subject: Pragmatism yes! but what about philosophy?
We generally figure that we need to address pragmatic dollars and sense issues if we hope to win the argument for harm reduction.
But let's not forgot philosophy. And I'm talking about REAL philosophy.
With regard to the issue of drug legalization, decriminalization, regulated markets, etc. is it really a mistake to ask the up-front question: Is the government wrong to classify drug use legally?
Philosophically that question can be answered with a resounding YES!
Lysander Spooner, in 1875, wrote Vices Are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty in which he declares:
Quote:
Unless this clear distinction between vices and crimes be made and recognized by the laws, there can be on earth no such thing as individual right, liberty, or property, and the corresponding and coequal rights of another man to the control of his own person and property.
For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and to punish it as such, is an attempt to falsify the very nature of things. It is as absurd as it would be to declare truth to be falsehood, or falsehood truth.
Shall we begin suggesting "drug use is a vice, not a crime"? I like that better than "drug use is a disease, not a crime". _________________
"You have enemies? Good. That means that somewhere, some time in your life, you stood up for something." - Sir Winston Churchill
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