Freedom Is a Reason
18 June 2009
Editor, The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
To the Editor:
It's heartening that so many of your readers support drug legalization (Letters, June 18). As they, and columnist Nicholas Kristof, point out, there are indeed many practical reasons to end the cruel and futile 'war on drugs.' But there's also an ethical reason to do so: each adult owns his or her life and only his or her life. It's none of my business what you ingest. Nor is it the business of my neighbor or of my co-workers. This fact does not change if my neighbor, co-workers, and I form a coalition and vote to govern your ingestion.
A society truly free tolerates all peaceful actions, from the sublime through the self-destructive.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
To the Editor:
It's heartening that so many of your readers support drug legalization (Letters, June 18). As they, and columnist Nicholas Kristof, point out, there are indeed many practical reasons to end the cruel and futile 'war on drugs.' But there's also an ethical reason to do so: each adult owns his or her life and only his or her life. It's none of my business what you ingest. Nor is it the business of my neighbor or of my co-workers. This fact does not change if my neighbor, co-workers, and I form a coalition and vote to govern your ingestion.
A society truly free tolerates all peaceful actions, from the sublime through the self-destructive.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 8:33am