Should I Use Recreational Drugs?
Statement
It’s nobody’s business if I use recreational drugs.
Q1 Analysis
This is not a Q1 violation unless you would rely on others to make your drug use their business in certain circumstances (e.g., if you became addicted).
Q2 Analysis
This is not a Q2 violation insofar as you do not use drugs in a way that you might object to someone else using them (while driving a tanker truck, for example).
Discussion
This is a very broad statement, and as such may be difficult to justify. To agree with this statement and avoid both Q1 and Q2 violations, you would likely have to agree with all of the following statements:
- Either recreational drugs cannot impact work performance, I wouldn’t mind if someone whose job affects me used recreational drugs, or I think that anyone who uses recreational drugs does so responsibly.
- Either recreational drugs cannot significantly impact my health or my health is nobody’s business but my own.
- If I saw signs that someone I know was abusing drugs, I wouldn’t do anything because it would be none of my business.
- My using recreational drugs cannot adversely effect others.
- Other people’s recreational drug use cannot adversely effect me.
- Buying and selling recreational drugs does not significantly harm society.
A more narrow statement might be more philosophically valid. For example, you might be able to argue that recreational drug use that does not impact others is nobody’s business but yours.
How does your opinion on this subject compare with your opinion of other issues involving personal moral choices about risky or somewhat-socially-unacceptable behavior? Is there any difference? Should there be? Consider the following:
- Drinking
- Smoking
- Gambling
- Extramarital sex
- Dangerous sports
- Partying through the night
- Driving while talking on the telephone
Consider also whether or not you think it is anyone else’s business if the following people use recreational drugs. Does it matter what kind they use or when they use them?
- A soldier in active duty in a war zone.
- A woman who runs a day-care business out of her home, but only smokes pot in the evenings after the kids are gone and keeps her stash well hidden in her bedroom.
- A pregnant woman.
- A neurosurgeon who uses heroin to escape the stress of his job.
- A high-school student.
- A police officer.
- A high-profile Wall Street investment manager who only uses drugs while on vacation in a country where recreational drug use is legal.
- A man with a history of alcoholism and two convictions for drunk driving.
- Your daughter’s prom date.
- Your spouse, who doesn’t want you to find out about it.
You are encouraged to leave your answers to the questions posed in this post in the comments section. This post is based on an excerpt from Ask Yourself to be Moral, by D. Cancilla, available at LuLu.com and Amazon.com. See the 2Q system page for details of the philosophical system mentioned in this post.
