> Drug use (including alcohol) is probably the most common way for people to seriously and irreperably destroy their lives.
I actually agree with that. But I don't see the logical progression from that to locking people in cages and forcing them to buy from the least trustworthy people on earth as the solution. During Prohibition in the US did lives stop getting destroyed by alcohol?
I see a lot of lives seriously and irreperably destroyed by criminal records and long prison sentences that otherwise could have been productive.
> A "paternalistic approach" is absolutely justified if it can prevent this level of harm.
Would you advocate for government banning processed sugar? Sugar behaves like a drug in most ways, including addictiveness (psychological and physiological), euphoria, etc. Untold levels of harm are caused by people to their own bodies and the healthcare system at large by over indulging in sugar and products containing such. Diabetes is a true living hell that never stops one it's started.
Following that logic, it seems like the government should jail people for sugar use, but that obviously seems absurd (reductio ad absurdum).
> During Prohibition in the US did lives stop getting destroyed by alcohol?
I do not want to defend Prohibition, but AFAIK it has a persistent effect on alcohol consumption patterns in USA by lowering per-capita consumption of hard spirits (that was significantly higher before).
I actually agree with that. But I don't see the logical progression from that to locking people in cages and forcing them to buy from the least trustworthy people on earth as the solution. During Prohibition in the US did lives stop getting destroyed by alcohol?
I see a lot of lives seriously and irreperably destroyed by criminal records and long prison sentences that otherwise could have been productive.
> A "paternalistic approach" is absolutely justified if it can prevent this level of harm.
Would you advocate for government banning processed sugar? Sugar behaves like a drug in most ways, including addictiveness (psychological and physiological), euphoria, etc. Untold levels of harm are caused by people to their own bodies and the healthcare system at large by over indulging in sugar and products containing such. Diabetes is a true living hell that never stops one it's started.
Following that logic, it seems like the government should jail people for sugar use, but that obviously seems absurd (reductio ad absurdum).