A new study says it does in some areas — such as gambling, drinking and medical marijuana. But it offers wide liberty in others, such as gun rights or driving while using a hand-held cell phone or riding a motorcycle without a helmet.
“Personal freedoms are a mixed bag, consistent with the state’s religious and ideological background,” says the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based libertarian think tank that pushes for individual liberty.
The study is designed to measure how public policies in each state promote freedom, and the latest version uses data from 2016.
It gave scores in three main categories.