Harvard Economist Says Legalize, Students Listen Attentively
Economics professor Jeffrey Miron wants to buy black tar heroin, legally. Now. In a powerfully argued CNN editorial, Dr. Miron breaks down how making drugs–all drugs–legal and regulated would solve war, cancer, taxes, government corruption, racial profiling, AIDS and, presumably, difficult-to-open jars.
The last time we checked in with Crimson druglust it was just blow for the good of science. This time, the good Harvard prof is reading the blood on the wall, and he does not mince words: legalization is “the only way to reduce violence.” Miron’s hook is the horrifying Mexican drug wars–our thank-you gift for taking the bad jobs we need back now, please–but his real target is the U.S. government’s “puritanical policies” and “draconian [...] enforcement.”
Miron may be gilding your stoner ex-roommate’s opinions with vocabulary and rhetoric, but he’s still completely right, right? If we’d lost the war on drugs any more emphatically we’d call it Vietnam Cubed, but Congress is dedicated to bogarting our chemical fun. That said, considerable evidence suggests that, eventually, all the lame Americans who vote for lame Americans who hate weed will die (and even now, there may be hope).
After all, drugs are a personal, almost philosophical choice, and they feel totally great at the time–like cutting. The professor calls it the “victimless nature of this so-called crime.” Who’s worse off if The Man condones methadone Mondays, other than everyone who cares about you?
Dr. Miron says it best: “Obeying the law is for suckers.”
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March 26th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Miron is the man. His libertarian economics class is one of the best in the entire economics department… it covers everything from the drug trade to the market for organs and other human goods. if you ever get the chance to talk to him… do it.
March 26th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I would be totally for legalization – IF we then made drug users responsible for their behavior. If you end up poor and without a job, that’s too bad, and will be an example pour encourager les autres. But in fact people are too kindhearted for this to ever work. So what we will end up having is a welfare-like redistribution of wealth towards drug users, and since that safety net is not going to change, any good libertarian should oppose legalization.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Miron is my personal hero.
March 27th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Alcoholism is most prevalent in low socioeconomic classes. So is illegal drug use. This redistribution of wealth is already happening. Legalization would be unlikely to affect things in that respect.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
it worked in the Netherlands