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Letters
Letters
Criminality and Cannabis • The United Nations • Triads and Empiricists • Angels and Pinheads • The Natural Basis of Ethics • What is ‘Natural’? • Races and Species • Neurotic Science • Convinced Utilitarian • Occasional Liars • Labeling Error
Criminality and Cannabis
DEAR EDITOR: Robert Davies’ critique of arguments against the legalization of cannabis, in Issue 51, made some excellent points with which I agree. It’s on the matter of danger being the criterion for illegality that I wish to comment.
The assessment of risk involved in certain acts, it seems to me, is no valid standard by which to measure criminality. Also, if acts should be banned by virtue of their being dangerous, then a whole host of other risky behaviors, (including mountain climbing, skiing, and sky diving) should suffer a similar fate to that of heroin.
When merely dangerous, consensual acts are lumped together with necessarily coercive and damaging ones, the concept of criminality becomes diluted and the bright line between otherwise tolerable acts and intolerable ones becomes blurred.
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