government enacts such laws , it shows apathy toward its citizenry . This is careless law-making .
So , how has criminalization of drug use failed our society ? Stephen J . Morse discusses responsibility in his piece “ Responsibility Means the Capacity for Rationality . Morse explains that , responsibility requires the “ capacity for rationality ;” you can only be legally responsible for something and make responsible choices , if you are capable of rational thought . “ Law can guide action only if human beings can understand and conform to legal requirements .”
Therefore , if a person is genuinely unable to understand and conform to legal requirements , they have no ethical obligation to do so , and to hold them legally responsible would presumably be unjust . “ Legally responsible agents ... have the capacity to grasp and be guided by good reason in particular legal contexts .” And those who do not have the capacity to be guided by good reasoning , like addicts , need to be approached differently , because criminalizing them is an unjust and futile approach .
Addiction , as previously explained , distorts the addict ’ s rational mind , rendering criminal law an ineffective deterrent against drug use . This is not just something that has been recently proven by science , but is something that has been well known in our society for as long as drugs ( and drug laws ) have been around .
Russell Brand echoes this notion in his documentary : “ I ’ ve never met a drug addict who cared about [ a drug ’ s ] legal status ... people are going to take drugs because they need to .”
In their song “ Stealing Society ,” the band System of a Down narrates the lyrics of the song from the perspective of an addict facing an internal battle between their rational and addicted mind : “ Looking for a mother that will get me high . Just a stupid motherfucker , if I die I die .” The lyrics demonstrate that to the addicted brain , the priority is always to use , even if using comes at the ultimate price ; life . Obviously , no rational person capable of making good choices