Friedman on Drugs

Back in my undergrad days I had the opportunity to have a chat with Milton Friedman. What he has to say about drugs is interesting and important, given the (Marc Emery) circumstances. (I also thought it a good idea to post this given some of the comments for my post over on The Shotgun. Some of those comments are ridiculous. For instance, one guy seems to think that because Emery was a loser in college, he belongs in a prison for life...)

Here is an excerpt of the interview ("Friedman and Freedom") published in The Queen's University Journal:

The War on Drugs

Peter Jaworski: In a 1972 Newsweek article, I'm shifting topics here, you compared alcohol prohibition to the current prohibition of drugs. Now you wrote then that the War on Drugs has caused more problems than it's solved, and that drugs should be legal. Do you still feel this way?

Milton Friedman: Absolutely!

PJ: Even hard drugs—cocaine, heroin?

MF: Absolutely.

PJ: Would you restrict the use of drugs in some circumstances?

MF: I would say that people should be responsible for their behaviour when they use drugs. Just as drunk drivers should be arrested for drunk driving. Not for being drunk, but for driving while drunk and endangering other people. And I should say that if a drug addict, while on drugs, engages in activities that harm other people he should be punished as well. The question is whether the government should have the right to say what you may put in your mouth any more than it has the right to say what you may put in your mind.

PJ: But couldn't we say that certain drugs, perhaps, just as ideas, once inside might lead to certain consequences and wouldn't we be...

MF: Of course they might! And I think that information should be generally available. And people, knowing that, will behave accordingly. But that's a different question. It's clear, if you go back to that article, that the prohibition of drugs has had the exact effect that I'd described. It has produced a great deal of corruption. It has involved the violation of civil rights—personal and individual freedom—and it hasn't stopped people from taking drugs. There would be much less damage from drugs if it were perfectly legal and open than there is now.

PJ: Now you also said in that same article that this was an ethical issue as well.

MF: Absolutely—I've just said it—what right does the government have to tell me what I may put in my mouth? If the government has the right to tell me what I may put in my mouth, why doesn't it have the right to tell me what I may put in my mind? There is, in my opinion, no government policy that is as immoral as drug prohibition. Tell me, how can you justify killing thousands of people in Colombia because we can't enforce our own laws?

If we could enforce our laws, there would be no demand for drugs because it is illegal for people to consume drugs. But we can't enforce our laws. And the result of that is to create an illegal industry that leads to the kinds ofdevelopments you have in Colombia where thousands of people have been killed.

(You can read all of it here. And you should.)

Extraditing Emery

Marc Emery, the renowned pot provocateur, was arrested in Halifax earlier today. Rumours are circulating (courtesy of the CBC) that Emery was arrested on orders from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, and that he will be facing extradition for selling pot seeds from Canada.

Emery is the publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, runs Pot-TV, and is the proprietor of EmerySeeds.com. He is currently scheduled to attend and speak at the Liberty Summer Seminar, but it looks like, once more, prison will keep him from talking about liberty.

Last year, after the Seminar, Marni Soupcoff (who spoke last year, and will be at the Seminar again this year) convinced her National Post colleagues to sport the Free Marc t-shirts you see in the photo. That's Paul Russell, Adam Radwanski, John Geiger, and Marni Soupcoff from left to right.

For a Western Standard story on Emery, read Desperate beef producers look to drugs for relief (PDF)

This story is developing... (if you've got any ideas on what to do about this, send me an email, or post a comment).

Blogging Tories

So many Tories blogging on the internet. When you think about it, it's pretty amazing. Judging just by the internet, you would think the Conservative Party would win the next, and subsequent, elections. For one reason or another, the internet seems to be the political property of (in this order, I insist!) 1. libertarians and, 2. political Conservatives, and 3. Howard Dean fans.

How do you find all these Tories? You go to bloggingtories.ca, of course. Founded by Stephen Taylor and ... the website is the place to go to get a sampling of what Tories are writing on their blogs each day. And, as of today, you'll find something else as well--a banner ad for the Liberty Summer Seminar. Right there at the top!

Not only did Stephen rock enough to put up the banner, he's coming to the Seminar, and posting about it on his blog. Why did he post the banner ad? Stephen says that's because,

"a) I'm going b) you should too and c) sitting on lawn chairs with Marc Emery and Ezra Levant by the campfire is likely to be one of those unexpected and amusingly concordant moments in life."

Yup. That's as good a reason as any to come to the Seminar.

So now I officially add Stephen to the list of people that definitely rock. And if it wasn't for the banner ad, it would have been for being a fellow Queen's alum. Cha Gheill, and all that jazz.

Shotgun

Cust says I need to post more. I say there are plenty of blogs out there, and part of the trouble with blogs is that people feel like they need to post when they haven't got anything interesting to say. I don't, but I should add another blog here which has posted a link to the Liberty Summer Seminar.

The Shotgun is one of the places I regularly visit. I even post there. Usually, when I get a little hot under the collar. Since there are social conservatives on the blog, I get plenty of opportunities to argue. The Shotgun is the blog of the Western Standard--the magazine I worked for last Summer, and the reason I received my journalism award. As an intern--intern!--my editor, Kevin Libin, gave me incredibly free reign to suggest stories, to write about things that interested me, and to chase big stories as though I were a veteran journalist. I bet no other newspaper or magazine gives you that sort of freedom.

And I bet you no other magazine would allow an intern to write a cover story (PDF or Web)about a doctor challenging Canada's health care system before the Supreme Court way back in October. I'm telling you, the Western Standard rocks. Just for the Western Front alone--that alone--is worth the price of a subscription. (Everyone should, really, get a subscription. But if you're going to the Liberty Summer Seminar, just hold off a little and get it there, rather than online. It'll be worth it.)

Back to the Shotgun: Once, a MikeP posted this as a response: "You alone, Jaworski, can make me cancel my subscription to the Western Standard. You are one sanctimonious asshole." Wow. What was that a response to? Well, the post was about--what else--same sex marriage. Some posters took to blathering on by calling gays 'sodomites' and insisting that it's the end of the world, and so on. It was a pretty awful display, to be honest. I wrote something like "what an embarrassing list of responses on the Shotgun. How do you crazy morons manage to make the words appear on the television screen thing?"

Maybe that was sanctimonious. But it really deserved it, considering the posts that preceded it.

Gerry Nicholls blogs the LSS

Gerry Nicholls, the man in charge of the National Citizen's Coalition, blogs about his speaking engagement at this year's Liberty Summer Seminar here.

An excerpt:

For most Canadians the summer months are times of recreation and fun, maybe spending some time at the cottage.

But me, I'm still fighting for freedom.

In fact, on the August 13-14 weekend I will be speaking at the Liberty Summer Seminar in Orono, Ontario.

The Summer Seminar, which was first held five years ago, is designed for those interested in the general philosophy of liberty, which is another way of saying libertarians.

Cool, huh?

Reciprocation part II

Man, the list of people and orgs that rock just keeps growing!

What makes the following group of people rock so much? It's simple--they responded to my request to add either a banner (see the flashy red thing up at the top?) or a button to their blog. You too can rock, you need only follow the links, put up an ad, and let me know by dropping me a comment on this blog. And you thought you'd have to get a haircut...

Additions to the rock-roll:

Aaron Lee-Wudrick will soon join the ranks of lawyers. Lest you think this means more trouble for liberty-lovers, Lee-Wudrick is not that kind of future lawyer. No, this man loves liberty like a fat man loves Smarties. And fat men love Smarties. Don't believe me? Check out his blog to see for yourself. And come to the Seminar to shake his hand. Cause he'll be there. And you should, too.

In addition to writing a regular column with the Western Standard, Karen Selick has been a regular attendee and frequent speaker at the Liberty Summer Seminar. Karen also happens to be a lawyer, but of the liberty-defending sort. The sort of lawyer that, well, rocks. You can come and shake her hand at the LSS as well, if you'd like.

The University of Waterloo Campus Conservatives are run by a bunch of liberty-loving kids. This year, that task falls to Brendan McLaughlin, who runs a tight ship, and is a fan of the freedom. With quality peeps like Peter Mensinga, Aaron Lee-Wudrick, Mike Kerrigan, and a dozen other fine talents, in this and prior years, the UWCCA is bound to leave a mark.

Michael Dabioch posts on the Shotgun, and causes trouble on his own 'Living in Unmentionable Times' blog. Michael is a fan of capitalism, freedom, and all things liberty. A recent addition to his blog is a comment section--so let him know what you think of his musings.

Ahh, Bureaucrash, how I love (everything about) you. From your crazy hippie attitude to your wicked t-shirt designs that make being a libertarian almost as hip--in the eyes of first-year college kids--as donning a Che shirt and professing an interest in the 'complex and nuanced' Chomskyan analysis of American involvement in wars. That's a big accomplishment!

Old hats at the rocking (so last week):

Janet Neilson
Michael Cust
Tory Blue
Liam O'Brien

Smaller advert

Okay, maybe some of you wanted to post an advertisement for the Liberty Summer Seminar, but thought the banner was just too big, or would cramp your blogs style. That's cool, I understand.

So my buddy, Mike Kerrigan, has gone ahead and re-jigged two images which you can put up on the side, like a little button advertisement. There's plenty of these all over the place, and they can be put in places that make more sense, given the aesthetic feel you might be trying to create with your blog.

There's two options: For the red one, here is the link: http://www.libertyseminar.org, and here is the image: http://peterjaworski.com/images/LSS%202005/LSSButton2.GIF (don't forget that you need to put in an a href tag for the link, and the appropriate image link as well.) Set height to 80, and width to 155.

The yellow image can be found here: http://peterjaworski.com/images/LSS%202005/LSSButton1.GIF (and keep the link the same). Height and width is the same.

As always, please leave a comment to let me know that you've done that, and I'll be very grateful.

Reciprocation

Quite a few of you have posted the Liberty Summer Seminar advertising banner after I put out a request for help with spreading the word. I thought I would reciprocate a little by giving your blogs a little advert on mine.

Janet Neilson runs Liberty is Good, a blog that focuses on, well, just how good liberty is. Which she's right about. Liberty *is* good. Janet was the first to respond to the advertising request, so she rocks the most. Go check out Janet's blog to get more on liberty.

When Mike isn't busy writing letters to the editor, he posts his own deep thoughts and pearls of wisdom on michaelcust.com (which will direct you to his blog). Like Janet, Mike also thinks liberty is good, and argues for just this on his blog, Canuck for Liberty. Do put him on your blogroll.

Liam O'Brien clogs my email account all the time. His postings on the Conservative Youth Forum have been known to run on well past 10k. Typically, he is busy explaining the importance of the East Coast to the rest of us. And explaining some nuance in public policy, or some legal point. Otherwise, he is promoting massive change to Canada's tax system, and encouraging more economic liberty generally. Read his stuff on the Responsible Government Leagure, if you know what's good for you.

Finally, Tory Blue likes the quote by Adam Phelps about the difference between capitalism and communism so much, she puts it in the 'About' section of her blog, which you can (and should) read here.

You guys and gals rock!

If you would also like to rock, please go to this post where the process is explained. Do also drop a comment on my blog letting me know that you've done that, so I can thank you. Please note that I am working on a smaller version of that ad, which will be just a little button. I'll post that up here very shortly.

Chaoulli in the Standard

I wrote two articles for the latest Western Standard issue, both of which are now online. I encourage everyone to get a subscription to that fine magazine (or, if you're coming to the Liberty Summer Seminar, I would encourage you to hold off and get it there), but I'm happy that they make the stories available online as well.

Do read my stories: Identity crisis, in which we chat about the role of Canada's health care system in forming our national identity; and Question Period with Jacques Chaoulli where I get a chance to interview the good Doctor.

Two Londoners respond

London Mayor Ken Livingstone writes:

"I know that you personally do not fear to give your own life in exchange for taking others. That is why you are so dangerous. But I know you do fear that you will fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society.

I can show you why you will fail.

In the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our seaports, and look at our railway stations. And even after your cowardly attack you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners, to fulfill their dreams and achieve their potential.

They choose to come to London as many have come before because they come to be free. They come to live the life they choose, they come to be themselves. They flee you, because you tell them how they should live."

(Hat-tip, Liberty is Good)

A letter to the Terrorists from London in the London News Review:

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?

This is London. We've dealt with your sort before. You don't try and pull this on us.

Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you're trying to do, it's not going to work.

All you've done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don't get rewarded for this kind of crap.

And if, as your MO indicates, you're an al-Qaeda group, then you're out of your tiny minds.
Because if this is a message to Tony Blair, we've got news for you. We don't much like our government ourselves, or what they do in our name. But, listen very clearly. We'll deal with that ourselves. We're London, and we've got our own way of doing things, and it doesn't involve tossing bombs around where innocent people are going about their lives.

And that's because we're better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we're going to go about our lives. We're going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we're going to work. And we're going down to the pub.

So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the fuck out of our city."

(Hat-tip ToryBlue)

That letter

The following letter was personalized, and sent out to each of the five-member Board of Selectmen in Weare, New Hampshire. Read the post below to see why I'm sending this, and why you should write an email, or letter, as well.

Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 17:42:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Peter Jaworski" Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by yahoo.com.
Subject: Lost Liberty Hotel
To: dadada@weare.nh.gov

Dear Member of the Board of Selectmen,

My name is Peter Jaworski, and I'm a resident of Orono, Ontario, Canada.

I wanted to send you an email to encourage you to support the proposal for the Lost Liberty Hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road.

Should the Hotel become a reality, I will visit it each year. At least once. And I will come with friends.

Also, if possible, I will host the Liberty Summer Seminar (http://www.libertyseminar.org) in the Lost Liberty Hotel every other year. The event draws between 50 to 75 attendees, mostly Canadians, and mostly from areas outside of Weare. This is likely to continue.

I'm certain that many people, just like myself, would also make use of the Hotel, would spend time in Weare, which would be great for tourism, and good for tax revenues as well.

Sincerely,

Peter Jaworski,
Director, Liberty Summer Seminar,
MA (Philosophy), University of Waterloo,
MSc (Philosophy & Public Policy), London School of Economics.

Eminent Domain

The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. City of New London, has plenty of people upset. They include a London Darrow Clements who was clever enough to try to figure out a way to use eminent domain on one of the Justices that voted in favour of the eminent domain ruling. He found one in Justice David Souter.

So what's he up to? He's put forward a proposal to take just that Justice's home and replace it with the Lost Liberty Hotel. Ha. But does he have a case? Well, maybe not, but he does say this:

"This is not a prank" ... "The town of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development."

The Boston Herald likes the idea.

Board of Selectmen, you say? So I did a little digging and found the email addresses of the five Board of Selectmen. I will now write them a letter explaining that, for one, I will make the trip out to New Hampshire regularly to visit the Hotel, and I will also try to host a Liberty Summer Seminar in New Hampshire as well, should the Hotel be built. It'll be good for the Town of Weare if they snatched the Justice's home!

Join me. Write them a letter or two. And do let me know if you do this (either through Comments, or send me an email). I will post my letter as soon as I've sent it.

Advertising

I'm sure you've noticed the banner at the top. My friend, Mike Kerrigan, put it together for me, and I think it looks great. I'd like to spread it, if possible. So, if you're reading this, and you're willing, would you post this on your blog or website?:

Link it to: http://www.libertyseminar.org, and the image can be found here: http://peterjaworski.com/images/LSS%202005/LSS2.gif. Image height is 60, and width is 468.

In the next little while, I'll try to get a smaller version of together. But this bigger one is all I have at the moment.

If you do decide to help us advertise the Seminar, could you let me know where you are posting the ad?

Thanks.

Adventures in Toronto

There you are then, I've changed the title. No longer "Adventures in London," and soon to be "Adventures in Ohio."

I've been moving around a lot lately. I think I'm mostly tired of it, to be honest. They really are adventures, but a little non-adventure would be good just about now.

While it feels good to spend the Summer in Toronto, it looks like I will come to miss London. The two cities are just not the same.

London

First London is elated by news that they got the Olympics.

Then London is devestated by the bombings.

I went to a Blue Jays game last night. They had a moment of silence for London, with an image of Big Ben up on the Jumbotron. I'm beginning to miss London a little when it comes to certain things. On certain days when I'd like to cruise along the Thames, and maybe pick up a calcium stone or two if the tide has receded sufficiently. Seeing old Big Ben--a common sight from Waterloo Bridge across which I travelled quite a bit on my walk back home--makes you a little nostalgic.

Damn, London, don't stop kicking ass.

Pun-Gent

I'm a punshine boy. Yeah, yeah, I know.

Also, 'Adventures in London' is going to have to be archived in favour of 'Adventures in Toronto' for the next month or two. Because that's where I am now.

Good bye, London. It was fun.