The sacking of Professor Nutt, Libertarian Eugenics and the National Interest

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100015335/will-the-sacking-of-professor-david-nutt-deter-other-scientists-from-advising-government/

Legalise all drugs.

Treat those who commit crimes while intoxicated and addicted more harshly than those who are not.

In short, intoxication and addiction in a criminal is treated as an aggravating factor attracting a higher penalty.

Three strikes and the death penalty kicks in.

The debate centres on the concept of harm. The truth is that not all of us have equally addictive personalities. Some of us can try any number of hard and drugs and still be OK.

And there are those who are addicted to over-eating. These people should just be allowed to eat until they go pop, and this includes their children too.

Since obesity is a feature of an affluent society with a history of welfarism where the poor, ignorant and unemployed can sit around watching daytime TV and eat themselves fat, a Libertarian minimum state would instantly solve the problem of underclass obesity by abolishing the welfare state.

This exemplifies one of the main planks of Libertarian Eugenics. It is better than the state sterilising and euthanasing people. You just let them destroy themselves.

Cigarettes and drink can cause more quantifiable long term harm to health than Ecstasy and cannabis, of course.

But what is harm? Societal harm or individual harm?

And how is it quantified?

Why would someone's ill health matter to society if there is no NHS?

Is the NHS beneficial to Britain's long-term future?

Civilisations and nations have risen and flourished without a free health service, so I rather think not.


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As Claire said at http://jdc325.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/shoot-the-messenger-when-evidence-and-policy-clash/#comment-4713 "... what Alan Johnson wants is not evidence-based policy but policy-based evidence."