PHIL 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Controlled Substances Act, Paternalism, Addiction
Document Summary
Drugs broadly defined as psychoactive chemicals chemicals that are transported to the brain via the blood stream, influencing consciousness directly and significantly. By this definition, alcohol, nicotine and caffeine are drugs. Drug abuse any nonmedical use of a drug that carries a serious risk of significant harm to oneself or others. Drug addiction the most serious form of drug abuse. Legalization having a free market in all drugs. Decriminalization policies might eliminate criminal sanctions for the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use while still forbidding the manufacture, importation, and sale of currently illegal drugs. Medicalization policies might allow physicians to prescribe drugs that are currently illegal to addicts who are already drug dependent or those whose medical conditions can be alleviated by an illegal drug (a possibility taken up next). Drug laws, legalization, and the harm principle. Drug laws, legalization, and the principle of legal paternalism.
