Ethical Theories Of Drug Reform

Philosophy 121
Ethical Theories of Drug Reform In Popular Culture

Rhonda Garcia

For many years a hot topic of debate in the United States is whether or not we should legalize drugs. Many feel drug use is immoral, while others feel it is their natural right to choose to use drugs or not. I would like to discuss the history of drug reform and the moral perspective of natural law, utilitarianism and Kantian ethics over this pertinent issue that we face in the United States today.
The first drug laws were established in 1914 through the Harrison Act which did not make drugs illegal, but imposed a tax on them. This ban was not due to the immorality of drug use, but had to do with international relations and the opium trade. Exempt from
This states that it’s the moral duty of man to respect not only other people’s humanity, their rationality and autonomy, but also one’s own. Drug use undermines one’s rationality and autonomy, violating a duty to one-self, which makes drug use immoral. Even though the use of drugs is destructive to the duty to oneself Kantian ethics opposes the illegality of drug use due to the virtue of autonomy. Utilitarianism is deceptively simple and its results are misleadingly easy to apply to the ethical dilemma of the legalization of drugs. It allows for varying degrees of what can be considered wrong or right, and for every situation the choice between actions is clear-cut: always choose the act with the best consequences. “Utilitarianism is an effort to provide an answer to the practical question “what ought a man to do?” When applying the utilitarian approach to the use and legalization of illicit drugs one has to define the pros and cons of the act as they apply to the
The cons of drug use for the individual may include addiction, social and physical problems. So which holds the greater utility for the person, the effects the use of drugs has on their physical and emotional state assuming the effects only bring on a euphoric happiness or the negative effects so commonly seen and associated with drug addiction? Are we to use only the two extremes of the happy “druggie” vs. the “crack-head” addict? The Utilitarian approach to this ethical dilemma as it applies to the individual would need to take into account every degree of drug use from the occasional recreational user to the hardcore addict. Taking this approach I would ethically approve of certain people being allowed to regulate their use of drugs in any way they saw fit while I could not agree that all people were capable of making the same decisions.
When discussing the ethics and morals regarding the legalization of controlled substances depends on whom you are speaking with; morals and ethics may differ slightly or profoundly from one person to the next. One has to consider the hypothetical imperative, in reality it boils down to a simple question, what is more important what is good for a person or what is right for that person. Reaching a societal agreement on what’s best for not only the individual but also the whole