The Medical Marijuana Issue
June 10, 2005
It should be evident, even to supporters of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, that the central problem the establishment has with marijuana – as well as most other illegal substances – is the inability of the government to control its supply. Marijuana abounds even where it is not wanted. If there was a way for the supply of marijuana to be monopolized in the hands of the drug companies, it would be legalized in a flash, and sold at $20 per reefer. Should that day arrive, those who are now indifferent to the suffering of others, will instantly strike the pose of “caring” people, and insist that Congress end this ban.
Butler Shaffer was Professor Emeritus at Southwestern University School of Law. He is the author of In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918–1938, Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival, and Boundaries of Order. His latest book is The Wizards of Ozymandias.

