In a recent Atlantic essay, physician Matthew Loftus argues that "America has gone too far in legalizing vice." Because people do not always make rational decisions and sometimes develop self-destructive habits, Loftus argues, the government should make it harder, not easier, to engage in pleasurable activities such as gambling and cannabis consumption. "Just as highways have guardrails for the moments when a driver isn't exercising perfect self-control," he writes, "so we also need guardrails to help people from driving off cliffs of vice."
To his credit, Loftus does not draw arbitrary distinctions between potentially harmful habits based on their current legal status. He argues that alcohol prohibition was successful in reducing the harm caused by excessive drinking, for example, and seems to understand that any pleasure-providing or stress-relieving activity can be the focus of an addiction—a point that psychologists such as Stanton Peele and Jeffrey Schaler have been making for many years.
