How would drug abuse be prevented or discouraged?

As indicated previously in this course, governmental prohibitions on the sale or use of drugs are not only an invasion of individual rights and thus unconscionable in a free society, but also a highly destructive intervention into the market. Such laws not only fail to prevent drug abuse, but they also have catastrophic effects on the political and cultural state of a society, threatening the very survival of freedom in general. (Cf. pp. 4.11:65-73, 5.4:74-6, 5.4:79-80.) Because the abuse of narcotics is obviously injurious to a person's rational self-interest, we should oppose it on ethical grounds; nevertheless, an objective ethics also requires that we respect the principles of individual independence and freedom (pp. 3.12:5-36), permitting adults to make their own decisions with regard to their persons and property without fear of coercion. (Protection of minors and of the rights of minors will be addressed later as a separate topic.) Of course, the citizens of a free society are responsible for the consequences of their actions, and any crimes or invasions of the property rights of others committed under the influence of drugs, whether intentionally or unintentionally, are fully prosecutable. Since the criminal justice system in such a society is predicated on the principle of restitution, the perpetrator is responsible for all damages and costs incurred as a consequence of his or her behavior; "state of mind" at the time of the crime is therefore no longer an accepted defense.