Here, yet again, is Bill Bennett pushing dubious material, this time at CNN:
My friends at National Review begin their case [against the drug wars] by stating the illegalization of drugs has “curtailed personal freedom, created a violent black market and filled our prisons”…[T]he question is: “Whose freedom?” The drug dealers’, sure — the drug consumers, no. As any parent with a child addicted to drugs will explain, as any visit to a drug rehab center will convey, those caught in the web of addiction are anything but free.
Over at Reason, Jacob Sullum retorts:
Bennett’s reasoning is airtight, as long as you accept his premises that all drug users are addicts, that addiction is slavery, and that adults are children.
Quite.
The war on drugs has weakened liberty, strengthened big government, enriched criminals and damaged America’s security. It has turned what should be a matter for individual adult decision into a national disaster. And it has been doing so for decades. It’s long past time that it came to an end.