The Medicalization of Life is the natural result of drug prohibition in a scientistic society
by Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher
March 10, 2026
I continue to be the only pundit to draw the obvious connections between drug prohibition and social problems. Most recently I pointed out how assisted suicide for the depressed cannot be discussed meaningfully without discussing the drug prohibition which renders it necessary in the first place (at least in the minds of the depressed)1. We outlaw all the drugs that could cheer a person up, and then we give them the right to kill themselves if they become too depressed. Go figure! But while I wait for any of the pundits in the debate to recognize my existence, I have discovered a new obvious connection between drug prohibition and social problems, to wit: the medicalization of life, first unveiled by mavericks like Ivan Illich2 and Thomas Szasz3, is powered by drug prohibition -- indeed, it could not exist without drug prohibition.
Most people would get on with their lives with the strategic use of godsend medicines and not listen to sermons about brain chemistry and their need to put their life in the hands of doctors. No one would see a reason to become a ward of the healthcare state by swallowing pills that are far harder to kick than heroin 4. Absent drug prohibition, no one would need to turn themselves into a childlike ward of the healthcare state.
Notes:
1: No one would need assisted suicide if we ended drug prohibition: what Claire Brosseau's case tells us about the warped mindset of the west when it comes to drugs DWP (up)
2: “Medical Nemesis : The Expropriation of Health : Illich, Ivan, 1926- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.” 2026. Internet Archive. 2026. https://archive.org/details/medicalnemesisex00illirich. (up)
3: “Medicalization of Everyday Life, the – Syracuse University Press.” 2026. Syr.edu. 2026. https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/953/medicalization-of-everyday-life/. (up)
4: Heroin versus Antidepressants DWP (up)
Ten Tweets
against the hateful war on US
Big Pharma drugs have wrought disaster when used in psychotherapy, but it does not follow that the depressed should become Christian Scientists. The use of outlawed drugs can obviate the need for shock therapy.
The drug war is the defeatist doctrine that we will never be able to use psychoactive drugs wisely. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy because the government does everything it can to make drug use dangerous.
All drugs have positive uses at some dose, for some reason, at some time -- but prohibitionists have the absurd idea that drugs can be voted up or down. This anti-scientific notion deprives the modern world of countless godsends.
You can get a Ph.D. in healthcare, and not learn a thing about the glaringly obvious benefits of drugs, as demonstrated by history, anecdote and common sense.
"Everything one does in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing toward death. To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving. It is to concern oneself with something other than life or death." -Jean Cocteau
Conservatives say they're against Big Government -- but they let bureaucrats decide what medicines they can use.
A lot of drug use represents an understandable attempt to fend off performance anxiety. Performers can lose their livelihood if they become too self-conscious. We only call such use "recreational" because we are oblivious to the common-sense psychology.
Don't the Oregon prohibitionists realize that all the thousands of deaths from opiates is so much blood on their hands?
We've all been taught since grade school that human beings cannot use psychoactive medicines wisely. That is just a big fat lie. It's criminal to keep substances illegal that can awaken the mind and remind us of our full potential in life.
Pundits tell us that there are medical reasons not to "snort" cocaine. So what? There are medical reasons not to drive a car: you may have an accident. The question is: does cocaine use or car driving make sense in a given case! Details matter!
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Copyright 2025, Brian Ballard Quass
Contact: quass@quass.com
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