Milton Friedman, economist

(1912-2006)

Winner of 1976 Nobel Prize

“When a private enterprise fails, it is closed down; when a government enterprise fails, it is expanded. Isn’t that exactly what’s been happening with drugs?” --Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman was 21 years old when Alcohol Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and he claimed to have always been an anti-prohibitionist. “I do not recall at any time that I was ever in favor of prohibition of either alcohol or drugs,” he said in a 1991 interview.

He justified that statement by describing life as a teenager during Prohibition: “Alcohol was readily available. Bootlegging was common. Any idea that alcohol prohibition was keeping people from drinking was absurd. There were speakeasies all over the place. But more than that. We had this spectacle of Al Capone, of the hijackings, of the gang wars... Anybody with two eyes could see that this was a bad deal, that you were doing more harm than good.”

Friedman dedicated his life to studying free market economics, earning the Nobel Prize in 1976 for his efforts. He spoke out loudly in 1972 against Drug Prohibition with a column in Newsweek and wrote a provocative “Open Letter to (Drug Czar) Bill Bennett” echoing those same observations in 1989. In 2005, Friedman (age 93) and over 500 economists called for the country “to commence an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition.”

For more information, enjoy these links to drug war articles by Milton Friedman.

(Next Scholar: William F. Buckley, Jr.)