Monday, October 7, 2019

Resolution

Except for laws prohibiting the sale of drugs to minors and driving while impaired, all laws that penalize drug production, distribution, possession, and use should be abolished, along with special "sin" taxes on drugs.

For the affirmative:

Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine and a nationally syndicated columnist. He is the author of Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use (Tarcher/Penguin) and For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health (Free Press). His work also has appeared in Cigar Aficionado, Seed, Forbes, National Review, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many other publications. His awards include the Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties and the Drug Policy Alliance’s Edward M. Brecher Award for Achievement in the Field of Journalism. Sullum is a graduate of Cornell University, where he majored in economics and psychology.

For the negative:

Alex Berenson is a former reporter for the New York Times, where he covered everything from the drug industry to Hurricane Katrina; in 2003 and 2004, he served two stints as a correspondent in Iraq, an experience that led him to write The Faithful Spy, his debut novel, which won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel. He has now written eleven John Wells novels and two works of non-fiction. He left the Times in 2010 to devote himself to writing full-time, though he still contributes occasionally to the Times. His most recent book, Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence, was published in January 2019. He graduated from Yale University with degrees in history and economics.