Marijuana's time has come

Legalisation of recreational use would also acknowledge the reality that most people have tried it, legal or not, at some point in their life, me and President Obama among them.

I do not recommend the use of marijuana except for medical purposes, but ultimately whether it is used for medical or recreational purposes should be a matter for adults to decide for themselves. Whether others approve, or would choose it themselves, is not relevant. It is especially not the business of the government.

As the father of liberalism, John Stuart Mill, put it, "But it is not legitimate, for government to involve itself in things that a person voluntarily does to him or herself, or that people choose to do to each other by mutual consent, when nobody else in harmed."

Mill was not thinking of marijuana when he wrote that, but he could have been.