Drug Use and Morality The limits of personal autonomy

Drugs and Autonomy  In 2010, about 22.6 million Americans aged 12 or older were illegal drug users.  Among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate of illegal drug use increased from 19.6 percent in 2008 to 21.5 percent in 2010, mostly because of an increase in the use of marijuana.

Drugs and Autonomy  In 2009, drugs (illegal and prescription) directly caused over 37,000 deaths.  The war on drugs—America’s decades- old attempt to eradicate illegal drug use and trafficking—has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives in the violence that surrounds drug dealers, drug cartels, anti- drug law enforcement, and innocents who get caught in the crossfire.

Terminology  Drug abuse: Drug use that society disapproves of—namely, uses that are (1) recreational, (2) proscribed or illegal, or (3) continued because of dependence or withdrawal  Drug dependence: A strong reliance on the effects of a drug coupled with psychological or physical distress when the drug is withdrawn

Terminology cont.  Drug addiction: “A chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her”  Drug legalization: Making the production and sale of drugs no longer a criminal offense

Terminology cont.  Criminalization: Making the use of drugs a crime  Decriminalization: Making the production and sale of drugs no longer a criminal offense

Public Opinion "Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not?“ LegalNot LegalNot Sure 50% 46% 3% Gallup Poll. Oct. 6-9, N=1,005 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 4.

The Central Moral Issues  Whether the nonmedical use of drugs is morally permissible  Whether the state may intervene to curtail such use

Harm Reduction Policy  Focuses not on reducing the number of drug users or banishing drugs from society (which is thought to be impossible) but on decreasing the amount of harm caused by drugs or drug enforcement

The Harm Principle  The government is justified in limiting the liberty of some to prevent harm to others.  Many argue that drug users cause great harm to those around them, and that’s reason enough to make drug use a crime.

The Harm Principle cont.  Decriminalization proponents have turned the harm argument around, contending that the war on drugs may be more harmful than the drug use it’s trying to eradicate.  Many argue that whether or not the state should punish someone is primarily a matter of justice and rights, not calculations of harm.

The Paternalism Principle  The government is justified in limiting the liberty of citizens to prevent harm to themselves.  James Q. Wilson: “[T]he moral reason for attempting to discourage drug use is that the heavy consumption of certain drugs is destructive of human character…The dignity, autonomy, and productivity of many users, already impaired by other problems, is destroyed.”

The Legal Moralism Principle  The government is justified in limiting the liberty of citizens to prevent them from committing immoral acts.  Douglas Husak: “Prohibitionists who contend that drug use should be punished because of its immorality should be pressed to explain why this case [drug use], unlike a case of breaking a contractual promise, should be included among those immoral behaviors the criminal law should punish.”

The Harm Argument A person’s use of illicit drugs harms others, and therefore it should be prohibited. (That is, because of its bad effects on people other than the drug user, using drugs should be a criminal offense subject to legal punishment.)

The Argument Against Paternalism  John Stuart Mill: The state may legitimately coerce people in order to prevent harm to others, but limiting people’s freedom so they don’t harm themselves is out of the question.  Self-harm is never a valid reason to decrease personal autonomy: “[A person’s] own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.”