Unjust War on Drugs

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Reading Assessment for America’s Unjust Drug War by Michael Huemer In America’s Unjust Drug War, author Michael Huemer, a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, expresses his opinion that illegal drug laws are seriously unjust because they violate a person’s natural right to control their own body. Huemer gives the viewpoint of both sides of this issue by examining the arguments that would be made by Prohibitionists and Legalizers. He focuses on three very prominent arguments in the debate for drug legalization. First, he brings forth the argument that drugs should be outlawed because they cause harm to the drug user. He dismisses this argument by listing other activities that could be harmful to an individual such as smoking tobacco, riding motorcycles, and having unprotected sex. This comparison makes the idea of prohibiting these activities because they are harmful to the individual participating in them seem rather ridiculous. Basically, illegal drugs CAN be harmful to a user; at the same time, smoking tobacco IS harmful to a user, yet smoking cigarettes is perfectly legal. I think Huemer’s argument effectively defeats the prohibitionists’ standpoint that drugs should be outlawed because they are harmful to the user. Second, the author addresses the prohibitionist argument that illegal drugs cause harm to people around the user as well. Huemer agrees that drugs have the potential to ruin a user’s life whether it be laziness, poor communication with others, or not taking pride in one’s work. He states that drug use only has a chance of causing one to behave in these ways. There are people all over the world that voluntarily behave in these ways without the use of drugs. Should these people be arrested for being losers? No. Huemer effectively dismisses this accusation. Lastly, Huemer firmly establishes his belief that a person has the
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