The Ethical Egoist Perspective on Marijuana Legalization

The debate for the legalization of marijuana is more than just a political one, as there are lots of questions surrounding ethical issues.  It has been medicalized in certain states since 1996 (first was California), which allows for medicinal uses of the plant, since marijuana is frequently used and highly recommended as a treatment of pain for cancer and AIDs patients among various other ailments.  However it does cause side effects such as slowed reactions, feelings of anxiousness or paranoia, and increased short-term memory loss, but proponents for its recreational use say that marijuana puts them in a happy, uplifted, spiritual, and inspirational state.  Therefore legalizing the substance for not only medical but also recreational use is an ethically responsible resolution because if the benefits will outweigh the costs and side effects then it is an optimific decision.  Many different aspects of the issue should be analyzed such as how legalization would affect the general public, how it would affect national and state economies, and what it means for our country’s youth.

The ethical egoist would greatly agree with legalization of marijuana in the United States.  Briefly, ethical egoism says that the promotion of one’s own good is in accordance with morality, and in essence it is the “me-first” philosophy (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy).  Therefore ethical egoism would say individuals that choose to consume marijuana either for medical or recreational reasons should be allowed to since withholding it is a direct hindrance on their personal rights and liberties.  For individuals who don’t indulge in the substance, ethical egoism would say marijuana legalization is only bad if it personally affects their well-being.  Therefore, besides people invested in tobacco, alcohol, and beer industries (the only ones that reasonably might suffer from marijuana legalization), recreational marijuana legality should hardly infringe on non-smoking citizens’ well-being or promotion of their own good.

The ethical egoist might go even further to say that it would be immoral for marijuana-using citizens to sit back and not fight for its legalization.  While marijuana remains criminalized in the eyes of the federal government, users in the non-legal states are placing themselves at risk of getting fines, misdemeanors, and even felonies (marijuana laws are some of the strictest among all “drugs”) by using a substance with side effects no worse, and in fact much less detrimental, than alcohol or tobacco.  It shouldn’t be neglected that over half of the United States’ incarcerated population are so because of marijuana-related offenses,  which means there are countless cases of mothers and fathers removed from their family on non-violent offenses such as those related to cannabis smoking.  In essence, I believe it’s safe to say the ethical egoist would greatly agree with the concept of legalizing marijuana on the federal and state level because it would mean the promotion of personal goods for all smokers as well as the many people that will benefit from it in the medical, economic, or law-abiding sense.

Sources

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/egoism/#SH2b
• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/b/a3a5863f-0ead-482f-a697-81e51e81f98c