Public Policy

Alan G. Futerman () and Walter E. Block ()
Additional contact information
Alan G. Futerman: University of the Latin American Educational Center
Walter E. Block: Loyola University New Orleans

Chapter Chapter 8 in The Austro-Libertarian Point of View, 2021, pp 185-196 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter is divided in two sections, both dealing with public policy from an Austro-libertarian perspective. Section 1 deals with the War on Drugs. Most modern societies prohibit the use of addictive drugs such as cocaine and heroin. We contend this is a mistake. They should all be legalized, forthwith, since their usage constitutes a victimless crime. Moreover, most of the evils associated with drug production, distribution and consumption are due to the War on Drugs itself, and not because of the drugs themselves. The War on Drugs is the modern-day Prohibition. And just as it occurred during that tragic era, including the Mafia, widespread murder, poisoned liquor, etc., the same is being repeated now with drugs. But if the same course of action is taken, the same results are to be expected. The only way to effectively fight Cartels and drug-related tragedies, is to decriminalize drug production, distribution, and consumption. In other words, to end this War. Section 2 consists in a short essay attempting to show how a truly free society would deal with a pandemic such as COVID-19. Mainly through the functioning of the market as guided by the price system and the incentives promoted by capitalist institutions such as private property rights, free association, and non-aggression.

Keywords: Legalization; Addiction; Victimless crimes; Drugs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-16-4691-1_8

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9789811646911

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-4691-1_8

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().