CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN VICES AND CRIMES

One of the consequences of trying to control what a man may put in his
body is that you also have to control what ideas a man may put in his
head. Government has controlled information about illicit drugs for so
long that many people like Jon Greiner are no longer capable of telling
the difference between vice and crime (Aug. 16 guest commentary,
"Voters warned of initiatives ulterior motive: legalizing drugs").

In order to get some perspective on how Americans thought before the
idea of medicalization and criminalization of drugs was ever thought
of,
I remind Americans what a great jurist of the 19th century, Lysander
Spooner, had to say in 1875:

"Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property.
Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of
another. Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search
after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward
others and no interference with their persons or property."

Americans can be thankful freedom-fighters like George Soros will not
support vast scapegoat persecutions. Perhaps Mr. Soros saw the effects
the Nazis and their pogrom inflicted and has decided the personal
freedom to ingest any substance he likes is worth fighting for with
every last dollar he owns.