[ExI] libertarians nominate none of these

[Henry Rivera]

> On Mar 26, 2024, at 10:06 PM, spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
> If all drugs are legal, they soon get mixed with pharmaceuticals, as opium did in the 19th century.

I don’t buy this. This is a current problem now with black market drug purity. Crap gets mixed in or outright is substituted for what people are seeking. 

You seem to be referring to regulation and labeling issues vs legalization. People who advocate for legalization aren’t expecting to find cocaine in Coca-Cola after that, but it might mean you can go to a dispensary and buy cocaine in a pure uncut form without fentanyl in it, for example. That reduces harm in my mind, not the opposite.  Portugal, for example, which is engaging in an experiment in legalization/decriminalization right now doesn’t have the problem you refer to.

Now, if you are suggesting that a Libertarian would advocate for the abolishment of literally all regulation, which is a very extreme version of a libertarian I might add, then perhaps what you suggest could be a problem. But I haven’t heard anyone advocate for that version of libertarianism in a long time. People seem to prefer at least some regulations around basic safety. No one wants a window to fly off a plane while in mid flight or to take a mislabeled drug. Allowing trial error to determine what is safe and the free market to follow will never become popular if people are dying in rapid succession, I suggest. 

-Henry