Should alcohol be illegal?
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Should alcohol be illegal?
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- Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
- The admin formerly known as Scott
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To me, it does seem highly inconsistent for alcohol to be legal when those other drugs such as marijuana are illegal. However, instead of supporting the criminalization of alcohol, I support the decriminalization of drugs such as marijuana.
From a utilitarian viewpoint (i.e. what will lead to the most happiness for the general public), criminalizing allegedly unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol, drug usage, or prostitution only exacerbates the problem. Vices like those may cause problems in society from people choosing to engage in them, but criminalizing them generally causes even more problems. So nanny-states are counter-productive.
Regardless, I do not support nanny-states anyway. If a person wants to do something that other people think is self-harmful, then I still do not want to allow those other people to forcefully stop the first person from engaging in the allegedly self-harmful behavior. I support freedom, and so I want a person to be allowed to do whatever he wants even if others think it is self-harmful, so long as the person does not cause harm to other people against their will.
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
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