Recreational Drug Use and the Value of Community

The idea that the recreational use of psychoactive drugs harms communities is prevalent in popular discourse. However, concerns about the effects of recreational drug use (or liberalisation) on community are virtually absent from philosophical discussions about the prohibition of drugs. The goal of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to remedy this lacuna by considering how recreational drug use might undermine community. I argue community-based concerns only count against some of the ways in which drugs might be liberalised, but not necessarily all. The second goal is to consider what defenders of drug liberalisation can learn from these community based concerns.