Thomas Szasz argues that the modern penchant for transforming human problems into ""diseases"" and judicial sanctions into ""treatments"", replacing the rule of law with the rule of medical discretion, leads to a type of government he calls ""pharmacracy"", eroding personal freedom and dignity.



The modern penchant for transforming human problems into ""diseases"" and judicial sanctions into ""treatments,"" replacing the rule of law with the rule of medical discretion, leads to a type of government social critic Thomas Szasz calls ""pharmacracy."" He warns that the creeping substitution of democracy for pharmacracyprivate personal concerns increasingly perceived as requiring a medical-political responseinexorably erodes personal freedom and dignity.