Is Getting High a Human Rights Issue?

We hear about human rights and violations there of constantly. The media loves to cover stories about human rights because they draw in a large audience and people love to support human rights because they care about others or they care about seeming to care about others. There is, however, a human right that is as sacred and as basic as any other but is often ignored in the media and largely stigmatized by society. In most of the world exercising this right can land you in jail and in some places it can get you killed. I am speaking about the right to control what goes on in your own mind. That's correct, getting high is a human right and we should be selling the issue as such.

I make this argument with cannabis in mind; however, I do believe there is a good reason to treat all drugs this way. Cannabis is as harmless as a thing can be but there are risks to taking other drugs. However, their potential risks do not mean that their use should be banned. We do all sorts of dangerous things legally, so the safety of the user in not sufficient reason to ban the use of a substance. If it is, then why is auto racing or sky diving legal? So long as a person knows the risks of what they are doing I have no problem with them doing it.

We are told that we have autonomy over our own bodies but drug laws rob us of that. The thing that makes sexual assault such a terrible crime is this violation of that autonomy. Not only is the person assaulted but they are also robbed of something many people hold as dearly as their own lives. I am not saying that drug prohibition is the equivalent to rape but I am saying that both things are immoral for the same reason. If being forced to do a thing with your body is wrong, so too is being forced to not do a thing with your body.

I would argue that the prohibition of drug use violates our freedom of expression as well. In the west, at least, we largely have the right to express ourselves to others but criminalizing drug use prevents us from expressing ourselves to ourselves. I may want to smoke some cannabis to relax my mind or I may wish to take some mushrooms and watch my thoughts manifest before my eyes but what I am really doing is having some manner of abstract discourse with myself. The conscious and unconscious parts of my mind communicate and express themselves to each other. Criminalizing drug use prevents this internal discourse and robs us of our right to express ourselves in the whatever way we may see fit.

The prohibition of drug use is the prohibition of thought and only exists because authoritarians fear free and novel thinking. There is little else to add here. We all know that when people open themselves to new ways of thinking (like through drug use, for example) they start asking new questions. To authoritarians, new questions are dangerous so they go out of their way to stop anything that will bring enlightenment. Your mind is your own, however. If you live in a truly free society, you should be allowed to alter your thought however you wish and if you want to live in a society like that, you might want to frame getting high as a human right when you make your case.

Whether you are a cannabis advocate, a supporter of ending all drug prohibition, or believe that a freer society is a better society, I think you might make a more effectively push for progress on this issue by using the human right angle. It is easy to dismiss people's wants but it is much harder to dismiss people's rights. Getting high is your right and if anyone says otherwise, they either fear you having that right or are woefully misinformed.

All images in this post are sourced from freeimages.com.