Do Dying Patients Have a Right to Try Experimental Drugs? Libertarians Say Yes

In November, Arizona voters will decide whether terminally ill patients should be allowed to take drugs that are in the early stages of testing but haven’t yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Similar “right to try” laws have been enacted this year in Colorado, Louisiana, and Missouri.

The laws aren’t a response to demands from patients or lobbying by big drug companies. They’ve been promoted by the libertarian Goldwater Institute, named for Senator Barry Goldwater, the late Arizona Republican. “Our objective is to look at different problems out there and come up with solutions that are liberty-based solutions,” says Victor Riches, the group’s vice president for external affairs. “These individual patients have a right to try a medication to try to save their own life.”