Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman has died. One of the thoughts he left us was on the War on Drugs:
Illegality creates obscene profits that finance the murderous tactics
of the drug lords; illegality leads to the corruption of law
enforcement officials; illegality monopolizes the efforts of honest law
forces so that they are starved for resources to fight the simpler
crimes of robbery, theft and assault. Drugs are a tragedy for addicts.
But criminalizing their use converts that tragedy into a disaster for
society, for users and non-users alike.
It takes us about a quarter of a century to wise up to what smart guys like Friedman have to say. Let’s hope we listen this time.
Tip from Andrew Stuttaford at The Corner.
Update (16 November). Apparently, Friedman was known to play a game or two of tennis. Tip from the Instapundit.
The Random Texan 
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