f several of his essays along with several essays by Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, the purpose of which was to support the legalization of drugs. The compilation was published by the Drug Policy Institute in 1992.
Considering the Arguments For and Against the Elimination of Clinical Licensure
The licensing of physicians was implemented initially in the United States as a quality improvement initiative. The objective was to improve the quality of the output of the nation's medical schools. The mechanism written into law to attain this objective was to delegate licensing authority to the body of professional physicians, as the body of professional physicians was represented by the American Medical Association (AMA). The AMA, immediately upon gaining this authority, refused to certify many medical schools, which meant that the graduates of those medical schools could not sit for the medical license examinations. Soon thereafter, the AMA began to coerce medical schools (by employing the threat of non certification) to reduce enrollments. Each of these actions had the economic effect of causing increases in the price of physician services, as each of the actions worked to reduce the supply of physicians. Following the wake of physician licensure were the extensions of licensure to other health care professionals. Each professional association that gained licensure authority followed the lead of the AMA in implementing actions that had the economic effects of (1) reducing provider supply and (3) increasing the prices for health care services. At least in the early stages of licensure, general agreement exists that the actions of the professional associations exercising licensure authority also led to improvements in the quality of the health care services provided. Friedman (1945) argued that clinical licensure, as a form of government regulation, placed the responsibility for the of the personal health of individuals and familie...