Why Drugs Should be Legalised

  • In this 8-minute video, Milton Friedman puts forward a compelling case for the legalisation of drugs.
  • What effect does criminalsation of drugs have? Friedman answers that:
  1. The effect of making drugs criminal is to drive people from mild drugs to strong drugs.
  • How would drugs legalisation affect society?
  1. Crime rate would decline.
  • Friedman argues that governments are the ones responsible in promotion and protection of drug cartel.
  • Drug prohibition discourages usage. He asks, “That’s good, right?”
  1. Friedman argues that the case of prohibiting drugs is the same categorically as the case of prohibiting people from overeating.
  2. Overeating causes more deaths than drugs, and in principle the government does not regulate and prohibit overeating although it does more damage than drug addiction.