Drug Abuse Is a Matter of Public Health Not Criminal Law

Yes the Drug War is a very bad government created thing, but this article is a good illustration of the conflicts in many libertarian positions: The government has strong influence over the shape and outcomes of markets, legal and illegal. That effect has a long tail into the future. So unless you are willing to wait decades, at least, if not generations, after abolishing government "interference," for the influence of government to wash out of the system, the argument that government should have minimal influence in our lives is unrealistic and unenlightening.

In the case of the Drug War, there would have to be a government program of addiction treatment, or we'll have addicts dying in the streets. There is no straight line from the Drug War to a libertarian paradise of self regulation regarding addiction.

The article also ignores the malign intent in the design of the Drug War. It was designed to injure minorities and enable authoritarian control. The political influences that caused that to happen are not going to just fade away with less government. They must be directly opposed and opposing structures will likely have to be created and institutionalized in law and in government to prevent the Drug War from staging a political comeback.