Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article discusses the merits of drug use and the policy of drug criminalization from a sovereignty perspective. Recognizing that drug dependence and commonly associated harms impose obvious constraints on personal sovereignty, at least in an intrapersonal sense and possibly also interpersonally, the article analyzes also the more radical proposition that intoxication degrades rationality and may therefore be unacceptable to a person who believes in maximizing sovereignty. Conversely, some people may believe that moderate drug use increases their sovereignty over the long run. In a second layer of analysis, the article discusses how the sovereignty-constraining effects of drug use may serve as a basis for drug prohibition. From a Kantian perspective, the fundamental question in this regard is whether a polity may legitimately seek to preserve citizens’ sovereignty in an overall sense by limiting it with regard to drug use.
Source: Criminal Justice Ethics
Author: Petter Grahl Johnstad
Language: English
Topic: Criminal Law and Policy
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7141365431