Crime, justice, and ethics

¶ … war on drugs ethical? Are drugs in society and drug addiction ethical?

Throughout the years, American society have debated on the ethicality of the government and civil society's war on drugs. The prevailing thought that drug addiction is detrimental to American society, thereby leading to the view that drug addiction is unethical. As the issue developed further to include the ramifications that drug addiction causes to society, the war on drugs took center stage, and policy-makers, the media, and civil society are now debating whether the war on drugs is ethical or not. In effect, we are now confronting two issues concerning drug addiction: one that centers on drugs and drug addiction per se, and another that focuses on the war on drugs. Indeed, which is ethical between the two: drugs in society or the war on drugs?

Literature on drug addiction and the war on drugs presented various arguments not on why drugs in society or war on drugs is ethical, but, primarily, arguments that prove why drugs in society or war on drugs are unethical. This analysis of arguments concerning the war on drugs and drug addiction shows that it is not the war on drugs that is unethical, but the proliferation of drugs and drug addiction in society.

Milton Friedman is one of the public figures who contend and held the popular belief that the war on drugs is unethical. In his article entitled, "It's time to end the war on drugs," Friedman (1998) enumerated the negative effects and social problems that the war on drugs created in American society. In asserting his position against the war on drugs, he argued, "...I believe we have no right to use force, directly or indirectly, to prevent a fellow man from committing suicide, let alone from drinking alcohol or taking drugs."

He then explicated the reasons why the war on drugs was more of a detriment rather than benefit for the individual and American society. The war on drugs led to the creation of stringent measures and policies that create more difficult problems in the country, which include the worsening of the prison system, rising illegal drug prices, and proliferation of drug trafficking. Considering drug addiction as a criminal act led to the increase of criminals in prisons, creating an inefficient and defective prison system. Furthermore, because drugs have been considered illegal and distribution have been hampered, its prices have increased in response to these policies. Inevitably, drug trafficking also resulted from these stringent measures. These reasons, in effect, led to Friedman's belief that war on drugs is unethical.