Anarcho-capitalism

I found an article at the Bangor Daily News today from a recovering drug user who is against the legalization of drugs. As an anarcho-capitalist, one of my most basic tenets I believe in is that you should never get involved between two consenting adults performing any transaction voluntarily. If party A wants to sell drugs to party B, I can not get involved, I can not regulate it and I can definitely not tax it.

The author of this article says “I am a recovering addict, just restarting my life. I’ve been clean for a year, and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” Actually I find that just paying the bills is difficult when half my income goes to funding wasted government programs such as the War on Drugs. We each have “Very difficult” things we have to do every day. Recovering from a decision to use drugs might be difficult, but why didn’t you learn that in the first place during your upbringing?

She continues: “Drugs took everything I loved from me and changed who I really was for a long time.” No, you took everything you loved and threw it away. Drugs were not the reason — your choice was. Some people throw everything away over a girlfriend or a gambling habit or a love of money over relationships. Don’t blame the process, blame yourself. Accept that you decided to use drugs without knowing how it will affect you. I don’t even take vitamin supplements without consulting a doctor I trust. Why would you put junk in your body? I don’t eat sugar because I know it is a terrible substance, why would I put something worse in me?

Back to our ex-addict: “I started using drugs and alcohol when I was only 10 years old, and I just got clean at the age of 37.” 10 years old? Where the hell were your parents? Why didn’t they raise you right? Did they both have to work because our tax burden is so high? Did they ignore you because they didn’t learn moral judgement themselves? Is it possible that you are genetically predisposed to forming addictive habits?

She goes further: “I put my family through hell. I stole from my parents and didn’t care what I did to them. They stood by me even though I was doing the things I did.” You put THEM through hell? Where did you get the drugs from? Why weren’t they watching you? Parents should be dictators until the child is ready to become an adult (whether at 13 or at 25).

And let’s add to the wonder: “ My children were taken from me in 2003 because I couldn’t take care of them because of my addiction.” Wow, she had kids. What a winner. We paid to education this person, then we probably paid for her housing, and then we’re paying for her children that she had without considering the responsibility required. I’d prefer to go back to the days that people with no desire to be responsible could always join the convent or the monastery.

She finishes by saying: “ Legalizing drugs is a bad idea that will only make it easier for people to get and stay addicted. ”

So instead of looking at what created the problems, she figures the problem is that we don’t regulate the actions of consenting adults enough.

Let’s try to figure out what happened in this ex-addict’s life:

1. She was ignored as a child by her parents. We pay over 50% of our household income to taxes at every level, does it surprise you that both parents have to work?

2. She was tempted to try drugs by a drug dealer — likely a peer. When things are illegal, the prices go way up. Look at alcohol prohibition in the history of the US. Look at prostitution. You prohibit, prices go up. As prices get outrageously high, they give people incentive to buy and resell the expensive (profitable) items. Everyone has a price. If I told you that you could make US$1 selling a crack rock one time, would you do it? What about if I paid you US$1billion to do it just once? How about if I took your jobs out of your neighborhood and left you penniless and it was an option?

3. She tried state-funded treatment programs, and they failed. If a private company has a high success rate, they win in a market by beating their competition. The State has no competition, so they want the opposite — a low success rate. The worse they perform, the more they can beg for more money. We see it in education, highways, and everything else that is funded. More money is needed because the service provided is subpar.

4. She refused to think before doing. This is a common problem — we believe we should be given warnings by the State rather than think ourselves. When we make a purchase of an item, we deem it to be safe because there are laws against dangerous products. Those laws don’t protect us, they give us reason not to think, calculate and decide.

Drugs can be terrible, but drugs can also be wonderful. Some “bad” drugs have great uses, but are illegal. Cocaine, heroine, marijuana and other drugs actually have useful medicinal purposes, but making them illegal gave the producers reason to make them addictive and profitable.

I am not pro-legalization of drugs. I believe we just need to decriminalize their use. Don’t make a law saying its OK to use drugs, just get rid of the laws saying it is wrong. If your community decides that drugs are bad, make a voluntary cooperative pact saying that drugs are bad, and agree to help each other if one person gets addicted. That’s the way to fix a drug addict — community of volunteers ready and willing to help one another out of kindness, not out of force and mandates.

I have my own problems, I sure don’t want to help you without being able to hold you accountable for your actions performed with my money. Only in voluntary cooperation can we have mutual accountability and responsibility.