It makes a good storyline, the war on drugs. The hero who is super-good triumphs over the villain who is super-evil. How better in our culture to vilify someone than to say he’s a drug dealer? Unfortunately, we’ve seen it so many times we’ve come to believe the “war on drugs” is a good thing.

When my wife was dying of cancer, she smoked marijuana. It helped with the pain, reduced the nausea after chemotherapy, and boosted her appetite. But she had to buy her drugs on the black market, paying ridiculous prices, getting uncertain quality, and risking arrest. Why?

Sure, she could have used other drugs, but marijuana solved three major problems, and the only side effect was that it made her feel good. When did “pursuit of happiness” become conditional upon government approval? In a free country, as long as you’re not harming or endangering others, you have a right to make the decisions about your own life.

We’ve been conditioned through countless repeats of the same old message. “Drugs are bad. We need to lock up all the drug sellers and users.” But it makes no sense. People do unhealthy and dangerous things all the time — smoking, drinking, sky diving, mountain climbing, eating fried foods. I don’t need the government to protect me from parachutes and french-fries, and I don’t need it to protect me from drugs, either.

Besides, prohibition hasn't worked, can't work, and never will work. Drug addiction is a medical problem, and you can't solve a medical problem by putting people in jail.

So let's put the recreational drugs behind the counter, as we do with cigarettes today, and require a photo ID. No, that's not going to keep drugs out of the hands of minors, but neither does the war on drugs. If you want to score some drugs, go to your local High School. That's where the drugs are!

The true test of freedom is not that you are allowed to do something others do approve of, but rather that you are allowed to do things others disapprove of. A belief in freedom means that I will stand up and defend your right to do something I think is foolish.

Oh, and by the way, the Constitution doesn’t authorize the federal government to prohibit drugs. We should follow the Constitution.