Democracies Encourage Individuals To Hate Anyone Happier Than Themselves

The prohibition of drugs is one of the most blatant assaults on our liberties, and yet no one is speaking up for drug-users’ rights. Illegal immigrants are getting rights, gays are on the cusp of being allowed to marry and, the way things are going, Mormons will push through the legalization of polygamy before we get around to talking about drugs. Drug hate is so entrenched in our society and political system, it’s hard to know where to start hacking away at it.

So let me start with a quote by H.L. Mencken, the only American consistent in his hate for the Puritan values to blame for our ridiculous drug laws:

“[The] democratic state…almost always shows a strong tendency to be also a Puritan state. Puritan legislation, especially in the field of law, is a thing of many grandiose pretensions…The Puritan, discussing it voluptuously, always tries to convenience himself (and the rest of us) that it is grounded upon altruistic and evangelical motives—that its aim is to work the other fellow’s benefit against the other fellow’s will. Such is the theory behind Prohibition, comstockery, vice crusading and all its other familiar devices of oppression. That theory, of course is, false. The Puritan’s actual motives are (a) to punish the other fellow for having a better time in the world, and (b) to bring the other fellow down to to his own unhappy level.

And bring the other fellow down they do.

Exiled Online

You understand democracy well. But -- have you thought about this? While it's oppression to not let drug users have drugs, it's also oppression to make non-drug-users tolerate drug use.

Oy, it's a paradox!

Let me explain: if we all should be able to do what we want to do, we need to extend that want to want for context. Context/order is not a tangible event, like "doing drugs," but it's something we equally want. I want the right to a safe neighborhood where my kids only see traditional behavior. That's a right, too, by the same token.

So while I understand his desires, I stick with my original statement: drugs should only be decriminalized in frontier zones where no laws apply. Anarchy should exist in small doses, e.g. a total lack of civilization, so those who want to do things civilization cannot support see the costs, consequences and freedoms of their actions.