\u201cMarijuana may change the decision-making part of teen brains: A new rat study hints at damage during adolescence\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve described myself on innumerable occasions here on this blog as a conservative who leans libertarian with respect to many issues. \u00a0Part of the point of that self-description is to indicate that I\u2019m not a full-blown<\/em> libertarian. \u00a0(I have . . . umm, reservations.) \u00a0And I\u2019m certainly not a capital-L Libertarian.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a strongly free-market guy. \u00a0And I\u2019m inclined to laissez-faire<\/em> on a lot of other issues, as well. \u00a0Or, at least, I\u2019m strongly inclined to consider\u00a0laissez-faire<\/em> positions.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think, for instance, that the libertarian critique of interventionist United States foreign policy is extremely important and very much worth serious consideration. \u00a0But I\u2019m not entirely sold on it in all or even most cases, and I worry that, if it\u2019s adopted and proves mistaken, the consequences of such a mistake for our national security and for the wellbeing of the world could be grave.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Libertarian policy preferences on drugs concern me as well, sympathetic to them as I actually am. \u00a0I don\u2019t feel strongly one way or the other on the legalization of marijuana. \u00a0My preference is to live and let live on such issues. \u00a0If alcohol is legal, it\u2019s not absolutely clear to me on what principled grounds marijuana should not be. \u00a0The only difference between the two may be that alcohol has been legal and widely accepted for millennia (and is routinely consumed by legislators and judges and regulators), whereas cannabis has not been and is widely associated with the 60s and that era\u2019s often quite absurd\u00a0counterculture.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the article above may suggest one reason for regulating it. \u00a0I\u2019m in favor of freedom of rational or at least individual choice. \u00a0But a drug that may hamper rational judgment, and not merely temporarily, clouds that libertarian preference. \u00a0It seems problematic to fight very energetically for the freedom to decide to damage one\u2019s capacity to decide.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, candidly, having grown up in California during the sixties with a fair number of friends who did marijuana, the notion that their minds were clouded by drug use even when they weren\u2019t strictly-speaking \u201chigh\u201d seems to me not even remotely incredible.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
That, anyway, is one of the reasons that I find myself unable, despite my libertarian leanings, to jump with any great enthusiasm on the bandwagon for making cannabis more freely available and accessible.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
While we\u2019re on the subject of brain health, incidentally, I might as well call your attention to this:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLoneliness is bad for brains: Solitary confinement shrinks nerve cells in mice, study finds\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The social benefits of such things as activity in the Church are not to be lightly dismissed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cMarijuana may change the decision-making part of teen brains: A new rat study hints at damage during adolescence\u201d \u00a0 I\u2019ve described myself on innumerable occasions here on this blog as a conservative who leans libertarian with respect to many issues. \u00a0Part of the point of that self-description is to indicate that I\u2019m not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>