The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin. Thomas Huxley
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Drugs - to ban or not - Lee Harris expostulates
This article is the best I have ever seen on the topic. It reviews Theodore Dalrymple's book 'Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy', and Richard DeGrandpre's alternative approach in 'The Cult of Pharmacology: How America Became the World’s Most Troubled Drug Culture'. Who says history is bunk, after reading Harris' skilful interlacing of the Greeks, John Stuart Mill, and the content of these two books? I must confess that Theodore Dalrymple (a pen name, real name Anthony Daniels) is a personal favourite, yet Harris gently steers away from some of TD's more uncompromising positions. A great article, by a great author.
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