Reform Marijuana Laws: Decriminalize, Legalize, Regulate and Tax.

There is only one effective way to deal with the abuse of drugs, and that is to reform the current laws that treat the abuse as a crime. As a beginning, the reform of laws concerning the growing, sale and use of marijuana should be the goal. This would entail decriminalization, legalization and regulation. The analogy with alcohol and the historical [perhaps hysterical] experience with the Volstead Act is well known -- but not thereby pointless. It is, in fact, instructive -- as are the admonitions of John Stuart Mill in his essay "On Liberty," which is the primary source for the "harm principle." [a fundamental tenet of our legal system, namely, the only justification for the state to interfere with individual behavior is a genuine threat of harm being done to others.] It is time!