 | NORML News: You have the right to use cannabis! |
 BY STEPHEN BERRY, DEPUTY LEADER, LIBERTARIANZ
NORML News Summer 2003-4
I believe that as an individual adult, capable of consent and reason, I have the right to ownership over my life and the right to use that life however I see fit. The flipside being that I take responsibility for my actions and do not initiate force against other people. I am a libertarian.
There are many forms of cannabis law liberalisation being advocated, from 'grow your own' to the coffeeshop model. These certainly are ideas which move in a direction of personal freedom and should be commended. Personally I favour the full unregulated, free-market approach. This approach has nothing to do with perceived harms, but everything to do with personal sovereignty. The free market, literally, is the unrestricted exchange of value for value between consenting adults. If you own your life, there is no reason for you to live it according to restrictions applied by the state. You make your own decisions and you take responsibility for them.
The reasoning behind cannabis legalisation, coming from the law reform movement, while well intentioned is also flawed. It doesn't matter to me that prohibition is more harmful than the drug itself, nor that the substance has medicinal properties. Again, it comes down to a question of owning your own life! We don't have to plead with the state to trust us with another substance, it is our inalienable right to consume any substance we please! It is your life, your decision and you are solely responsible for the decisions you make in your life.
Not only is this argument infallible, how many politicians will state that you do not own your life? How many will say it is a product of the state? None! They will either avoid the question or look like hypocrites.
Quite simply, we do not need to restrict our options to harm-minimisation or a perceived best form of regulation. I favour a staunch defence of what basically is our right to smoke as much cannabis as we want. I favour this for the simple reason; This life belongs to me and I'm not going to allow nanny state to tell me how to live it!
You can contact me at 021 037 5720, email stephenberry @ xtra.co.nz or see our website www.libertarianz.org.nz
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