NCJ Number
154169
Journal
Daedalus Volume: 121 Issue: 3 Dated: (1992) Pages: 161-164
Date Published
1992
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Our society has combined a dread of dying a protracted, pointless, and perhaps painful death with a fear of living with a free market in drugs, thereby negating our chances for attaining pharmacological autonomy, which would involve freedom and responsibility regarding drugs similar to our freedom about foods, books, and religion.
Abstract
Slogans about saying no to drugs, the sanctity of life, the right to life, and the right to die coexist comfortably in mindless harmony. However, if the right to autonomy over our minds, bodies, and selves means anything, it means a right to suicide. In addition, if pro-choice means anything, it must mean the right to use or abstain from using any particular drugs. However, no normal American endorses either of these rights. The right to do something, whether it is suicide or taking drugs, does not mean that doing it is morally desirable. It means only that agents of the government have no right or power to interfere, by prohibitions or punishments, with a person's decision to commit suicide. The concept of the right to die indicates our skittishness about suicide and our longing to allow doctors to be able to kill us by withholding life-sustaining measures. The option to commit suicide is inherent in the human condition and should be a basic human right. Similarly, the most important symbol of the right to our bodies now rests in our reasserting our right to all drugs. Reference notes