Pot, Welfare and a Libertarian Dilemma

The debate over legalization of marijuana is both philosophical and medical. From the philosophical viewpoint it is about individual choice; the medical side is about addiction and marijuana-based medical products.

As a direct consequence of the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, there is now a third side to this issue, an economic side that creates a dilemma for libertarians (yours truly included).

The dilemma begins with legalization-driven, inbound migration to Colorado. Some of that migration is in the form of families moving to the Centennial State because their disabled children benefit from treatment with a medical marijuana product not legal in their home state. Many of these kids go from essentially a vegetative state to a wide spectrum of interaction with others.

But there is also another stream of inbound migrants. According to the Denver Post, out-of-state recreational pot users flock to homeless shelters in Denver. One shelter says 25 percent of the rise in demand for its services is "related to marijuana". At another shelter, new clients, many from out of state, cite marijuana as the second most important reason for needing help.

The core of the libertarian dilemma lies in fact that many pot users evidently cannot provide for themselves. On the one hand, grown-up individuals shall have the right to consume unhealthy products under the universal no-harm condition. On the other hand, what if these individuals move on from using charitable welfare services to those that are paid for with our taxes?

Given the dimensions of the problem described in the Denver Post article, and that Colorado has no welfare drug-test mandate, it is not at all unreasonable to expect that legal pot users will cause an increase in the cost of government welfare. When that happens, are libertarians willing to pay the higher taxes needed to fund that increase? If not, the next question is: can you legalize marijuana without first disposing of the tax-funded welfare state?

It will probably take a while before there is solid research on the correlation between pot legalization and welfare costs. Until then, the libertarian dilemma remains theoretical. However, the Denver Post article is a strong hint that such research will surface in the not-too-distant future. When it does, if libertarians want to stay at the forefront of this important public-policy issue they better have a solid answer to what comes first: legal pot or economic freedom.