Singapore executed a man last week after he was caught with 6 pounds of marijuana. In the more enlightened US of A, he would have been unlikely to receive more than 20 years in prison.

Surely, if marijauna use would have been widespread during the Scottish enlightenment, Adam Smith would never have written about a smuggler in the terms that he actually did use in 1776: “a person, who, though no doubt highly blameable for violating the laws of his country, is frequently incapable of violating those of natural justice, and would have been, in every respect, an excellent citizen, had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so.”

Filed under: crime and punishment