KTMan’s reply

Posted by admin on April 17th, 2011 filed in General

I realise I forgot to address an important point you brought up.

I think you are mistaken when you view the problem as one of “equality before the law” when talking about people who do not need to harm others to feed a drug habit.

Think of the issue this way. You mention that the rationale for criminalizing drug consumption is that the likely harms that could arise out of that consumption is so great that the police should prevent that consumption from happenning at all. Thus, you are describing an operation of the law whereby people who consume drugs are presumed to be likely to harm others. Fair enough.

But your explanation for rich people who do not need to harm others in order to feed their drug habit is unsatisfactory. Your claim is that they should be “equal” before the law. That however does not answer my question. My question is not whether rich people should be free from laws that everyone else obeys. My question is, how can it be that the law punishes people who have not harmed other people, and are not likely to harm other people at all?

In fact, your rationale that “equality before the law” is clearly conflicting with your justification for preventative police action. How can “preventative” punishments be effective when the people being punished are not likely to harm any one else at all?

KTMan