Much of this book has been arguing that government has reneged on its responsibility to its citizens by claiming, in the name of liberty, that they need to take responsibility for what happens to them. I have maintained that, generally speaking, citizens cannot be held responsible for many of the bad social outcomes which we witness in society today. Individuals can only be held responsible for the choices they make given the situation in which they find themselves. Government is largely responsible for their situation. I have also argued that there are certain features about human biology that mean we know that people will tend to respond to certain sorts of incentives. Government should be aware of those responses and, rather than simply throwing blame or responsibility on to individuals, it ought to design policy that helps people.

This chapter is about drugs policy. In the main it is about recreational drugs, but occasionally I will also contrast the manner in which government designs and implements policies on recreational drugs with how it deals with drugs produced for medical purposes – what I will refer to as ‘medical drugs’. While governments are keen not to be too paternalistic in many fields, their attitudes to recreational drugs are highly paternalistic. We can contrast recreational drug policies with gambling, where the paternalistic policies of the past have given way to a more libertarian outlook. In the main, this has been welcome, but it has created a bigger class of problem gamblers. I argued that government needs to recognize that a large degree of problem gambling results from liberalization and it needs to take responsibility for that, particularly noting that addiction deprives an individual of full responsibility for their actions. Government must acknowledge its duty to help problem gamblers, especially since their problem has deleterious effects not only for themselves but also their families.

Governments are still paternalistic when it comes to recreational drugs. Most recreational drugs are criminalized, in producing, selling, buying or consuming – sometimes in all aspects. The majority of those who work in drugs policy – not only academics doing research, but also many who work in the field with addicts, as well as many senior police officers, public servants and, often privately, politicians – believe that the criminalization of recreational drugs is a failed public policy.