Drug-Free America or Free America?

Boaz's second major claim is that drug laws infringe upon our natural rights.

He cites Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, stating our rights are defined as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He argues that being able to do with our bodies what we will is a fundamental right.

Solution?

Boaz believes that we as a society have stopped taking responsibility for our actions, and that the idea of addiction as a disease is flawed and unfounded. He believes, rather, that we must teach self-control in order to ensure people will use substances responsibly once prohibition of illicit drugs is lifted.

"Individuals have the right to live in any way they choose so long as they do not violate the equal rights of others."

Boaz

What Are His Claims?

"Prohibition of drugs creates tremendous profit incentives. In turn, the profit incentives induce drug manufacturers and deals to creatively stay one step ahead of the drug enforcement officials. The profit incentives show the futility of eradication, interdiction, and enforcement, and make on question whether prohibition will ever be successful..."

What Are His Claims?

Other efforts to curtail drug use and distribution are seen through these examples listed in the essay:

-The Federal Government spent more than $20 billion on anti-drug activities between 1980 and 1990.

-Police Officers made more than one million drug law arrests in 1989, more than two-thirds of them simply for drug possession.

-The number of drug busts tripled during the 1980s with the inception of the War on Drugs.

-Other government agencies, such as the CIA, were enlisted in the fight.

(Disputed Moral Issues, 195-96)

David Boaz

Summary

What do you think?

David Boaz lays out a compelling argument against drug laws and the War on Drugs. He believes we need a new approach. We need to recognize the failures of prohibition by admitting it simply provides huge profit incentives to drug manufacturers and dealers thus inciting violence. We need to recognize that drug laws tread on our fundamental rights, and these laws ought to only punish those who cause harm to others. We need to stop patrolling our citizens and put the responsibility back on the individual to use substances responsibly.

Boaz also believes that if certain drug laws were to be repealed, violent drug crimes would decrease significantly. He states that, "Alcohol did not cause the violence of the 1920s, prohibition did", and believes the same to be true today.

Boaz also argues that prohibition creates financial incentives.

What Are His Claims?

Some prohibitionists might claim that we have yet to see the full effects of prohibition, or that the government has not fully committed itself to really fighting this war. However, in his essay, Boaz shows the level of commitment that has already been put forth. One of the most telling statistics is that America's prison population more than doubled between 1981 and 1990, from 344, 283 to 755,425. An increasing number of prisoners are being jailed for non-violent drug charges.

What Are His Claims?

He believes that by repealing certain drug laws, the huge profit incentives will be taken away for drug manufacturers and dealers, thus decreasing the number of violent drug crimes. Additionally, he believes that with the end of drug prohibition, individuals will be forced to take responsibility for their actions and we will be given back our fundamental right of being able to do what we will with our bodies.

What Are His Claims?

His first major claim is that prohibition is futile. Since 1981, the United States has been waging a "War On Drugs", and Boaz believes it has not delivered on its primary goals: to "prohibit the cultivation or manufacture of drugs, prohibit the import of drugs, and prohibit the use of drugs." (Disputed Moral Issues, 195)

What Are His Claims?

Nancy Reagan

For example, there are plenty of statistics to show drugs are still finding their way into our schools and homes:

-In 1988, seven years after the "War on Drugs" began, 54% of high school seniors admitted to having tried illicit drugs

-88% said it was "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain marijuana. 54% said the same about cocaine.

(Disputed Moral Issues, 195)

Boaz proposes that popular attitudes towards drugs and drug laws are deeply flawed, and that changing them will benefit us greatly as a country.

Drug-Free America or Free America?

David Boaz

Prezi by Kelley Reierson