Marijuana prohibition is detrimental to fundamental human rights

The main arguments for legalization of marijuana mainly centres on cost-benefit analysis of drug’s harmless nature as compared to prescription drugs; it’s healing power; and prohibition’s large fiscal costs due to law enforcement and high incarceration rates.

Beyond marijuana’s effects on public health and impact on incarceration rates, marijuana’s prohibition is a violation to fundamental human rights. Any restriction imposed on individuals that limits their choice set is equal to denying their basic rights. Government can not be allowed to decide what is good for people. Prohibition implies that government better understand what is better for you, better than you do. In liberal societies, it is beyond the scope of a government to decide any sort of healthy living standard for the people. The states that recognise and believe in human uniqueness and independence can not intrude in peoples’ personal lives.

Beyond this argument, marijuana has proven therapeutic effects with no side-effects; prohibition denies people with serious conditions to have an alternative that can better relieve their pains. A logical question to be asked here is; whether the state’s role is to provide individuals with better medicinal options or restrict them to use something which has clear side-effects and its overdosing is responsible for deaths of several citizens every year.

With marijuana prohibition comes many other intrusions into personal life; this includes invasion of privacy, loss of freedom due to imprisonment, civil assets forfeiture and the exclusion of medical patients ironically from a potentially useful medicine. The government’s interference into the choice of an individual is affront to personal sovereignty and independence.   

Whether one smokes marijuana or not, supporting decriminalization of the weed is mandatory to prevent government from violating individual freedom and sovereignty. Therefore it calls every one of us to play a role and join hands to force government to end prohibition which detriments personal independence and freedom.