Literature with POSITIVE view on drugs (the argument from freedom)

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Originally Posted by Trystan

If people can't destroy themselves, then they're slaves, just like if they can't have freedom of movement, can't improve themselves by education, can't be with certain people or say certain things etc. etc.. Basically, the government says: you will not use drugs in the privacy of your own home, or we'll lock you up. War on drugs = war on freedom.

What is it that the Americans say?

"Don't tred on me"

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If we had total freedom, there'd be anarchy. Should we allow people's 'freedom' to murder someone they don't like? Some people don't know what to do with freedom

People's mindset- legal=okay. Yes, it might help junkies but what about people experimenting?

You are free to do drugs- it's just that there's a consequence if you do. If you want to risk it, you can.


Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. ~Theodore Roosevelt

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Originally Posted by kelby_lake

If we had total freedom, there'd be anarchy. Should we allow people's 'freedom' to murder someone they don't like? Some people don't know what to do with freedom

People's mindset- legal=okay. Yes, it might help junkies but what about people experimenting?

You are free to do drugs- it's just that there's a consequence if you do. If you want to risk it, you can.


Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. ~Theodore Roosevelt

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"What we have to remember is that not everything is under our control. If people are free in any meaningful sense of the word, that means they are at liberty to foul up their lives as much as make something grand of them. That's a gamble we all take. That's the risk of liberty. Nobody wants others to screw up their lives, but each must be free to do so for themselves." - Joel Miller

(his book is 'Bad Trip: How the War against Drugs Is Destroying America')

I hereby declare kelby lake's victory due to Godwin's law (joking!).

Seriously, though, you should probably continue this very interesting discussion in a thread I've just started in the "Serious Discussions" section for that effect: http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=44701

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Originally Posted by Mr Endon

I hereby declare kelby lake's victory due to Godwin's law (joking!).

Seriously, though, you should probably continue this very interesting discussion in a thread I've just started in the "Serious Discussions" section for that effect: http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=44701

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:lol:
I will direct my comments there from now on. :) Thanks!

Yes, I'll answer kelby there aswell.

OT: Thank you for all your suggetions, I'll write my speech today and incorporate as many of your suggestions as possible.

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Originally Posted by kelby_lake

Should we allow people's 'freedom' to murder someone they don't like?

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Obviously not, since that would take away the murdered person's freedom. Duh.

Then that's conditional freedom. You aren't free to take freedom, therefore you aren't entirely free. Complete freedom does not obey morals.

It's not that I think we should just leave society's drug punishments how they are, but I don't agree with the 'argument from freedom'. What sort of people are we if we allow others to get to the stage when they feel they have to destroy themselves?

kelby lake, we need you here:

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=44701

!

What about any of Robin's books? "Even cowgirls get the blues" for example?

I realize this thread was started in 2008, but maybe Rick Moody's Garden State? He writes a lot about suburban kids and their use of drugs, and while he doesn't condone it, he doesn't condemn it either.

I would suggest those who are interested in reading something about drugs to try Thomas De Quincey's Confession of an English Opium Eater, which is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. The author wrote about his own experience in eating opium, the dreams he made during the time he ate it, and the feelings opium had aroused in him. He also gave a true account of his love for a girl, whom he missed throughout his life. I was captivated by the book when I almost graduated from college, and that left a deep impression upon me.