In this paper I will argue that the right to self determination entails the right to self medicate. I state this for the following reasons: First, the notion that drugs are exceedingly harmful to society is an idea of political norms, rather then a defined truth. Second, society suffers financially for the strain put on the court system by drug offences. Finally, at a minimum, legalizing marijuana would have a beneficial impact on society.
To begin with, politics places too much emphasis on the damaging nature of drugs on society. As Szasz states "There is only one political sin: independence; and only one political virtue: obedience. To put it differently, there is only one offense against authority: self control; and only one obeisance to it: submission to control by authority. Why is self-control, autonomy, such a threat to authority? Because the person who controls himself, who is his own master, has no need for authority to be his master. This, then, renders authority unemployed." One has a moral right to take the drugs of their choice without government regulation, control, or interference. Man is perfectly capable of deciding whether or not to ingest something that will alter their state of mind. It is true that drugs affect a person's state of consciousness, but everybody reacts to things differently. What government agency has enough erudition to say that a person can not deem themselves capable of making a decision to partake in recreational drug use at any given time. Things such as alcohol, tobacco, and even caffeine are used on a daily basis to affect a person's body. Granted, tobacco and caffeine are much milder then other drugs; they still cause a change to the body's chemistry. Alcohol, with it's depressive qualities, causes car accidents, violence, and addiction even though it is deemed legal by the state. However, society views drugs as exceedingly harmful to the basic fibers that keep our population together.
