Bodily Autonomy and the Right to Use Drugs

This article argues that adults with decision-making capacity should be free to use psychoactive drugs and possess them for personal use when their conduct poses no concrete and serious risk to others or to public health. It grounds this freedom in bodily autonomy and argues that the risk a person voluntarily takes with their own health is insufficient to justify punishment. Drawing on John Stuart Mill’s harm principle, Joel Feinberg’s account of voluntariness, and Douglas Husak’s and Thomas Szasz’s critiques of drug prohibition, the article proposes a three-part test for state intervention. The state must identify the interest it seeks to protect, establish how the conduct threatens that interest, and show that its response is necessary and proportionate. The article applies this test to arguments about drug dependence, duties of care, and public health costs. Within Humanity-Centered Civilization Theory and the Life Continuity Framework, the article treats respect for personal agency and access to voluntary treatment and harm reduction as complementary institutional responsibilities. It concludes that personal use and possession should be free from criminal penalties and punitive administrative fines where the state cannot meet the proposed test.