I’m speaking of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The head of the agency, Gil Kerlikowske, was interviewed on Marketplace today. According to the agency’s website, “Prescription drug abuse is the Nation’s fastest-growing drug problem and has been classified as an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” But if this is the case, then why bother with the drug war on marijuana and cocaine? If prescription drug use is an epidemic, then Americans would be better off if the federal government just gave out marijuana and outlawed all prescription drugs and shut down drug companies that continued to make them.

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