Jacob Sullum: In Defense of Drug Use – Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com and is a nationally syndicated columnist. In this lecture from a Libertarian Party of California event in 2000, Sullum goes beyond utilitarian arguments for repealing drug prohibition, saying that the nature of the act itself — using chemicals to alter one’s mental state — does not justify prohibition. Sullum notes that Americans use other chemical stimulants — alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and a veritable panoply of other legal substances — to similar ends every day. He also points out that most Americans’ perception of drug addiction is misguided; according to many different sources (including the Drug Enforcement Administration itself) the overwhelming majority of recreational drug users are not addicts. Sullum’s remarks in this video would later be expanded in his 2004 book, Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use (www.amazon.com An .mp3 version of this lecture is available for download here: bit.ly
US drug policy adviser to speak in Wilkesboro
Filed under:Drug Use California
WILKESBORO, N.C. — President Obama's top drug policy adviser is scheduled to speak in North Carolina about drug overdose deaths as part of a meeting with a nonprofit overdose prevention program operating in the state. … Don't use all capital letters … Read more on Sacramento Bee