What is Ron Paul’s stance on drugs? Ron Paul is a perhaps the nation’s most well-known and ardent advocate of individual liberty. Because of Ron Paul’s deep respect for people to be free to make their own choices – good or bad – he does not believe that the federal government has the right to infringe upon others and regulate personal behavior. To Ron Paul and all libertarians, personal behavior is best regulated by the individual, and then the family, religion, and community, not by the state. Ron Paul also champions personal responsibility, something that is seemingly incompatible with a government War on Drugs that prohibits precisely . Here are a few Ron Paul quotes on drugs:

“Well, I understand prostitution has been around for a few years. And they tried to legislate it out of existence and I don't think it's worked very well. I would essentially have no restrictions, certainly on the federal level. And marijuana - I think it's tragic what's happening today in the drug war. Since the early '70s we've spent maybe $200 to $300 billion on the drug war. That's not been any good. This whole effort on the drug war doesn't make any sense at all to me.”

-Ron Paul

“In the last 30 years, we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on a failed war on drugs. This war has been used as an excuse to attack our liberties and privacy. It has been an excuse to undermine our financial privacy while promoting illegal searches and seizures with many innocent people losing their lives and property. Seizure and forfeiture have harmed a great number of innocent American citizens.”

-Ron Paul

"...when people commit violence whether they're under the influence of drugs, prescription drugs, illegal drugs or alcohol they should be punished severely. We shouldn't be putting people in prison for life with no chance of getting out... that never have committed a violent crime. At the same time we hear of cases were murderers or rapists get out after five or ten years or never even go to prison, it doesn't make any sense."

-Ron Paul

"We treat alcoholism now as a medical problem and I, as a physician, think we should treat drug addiction as a medical problem and not as a crime."

-Ron Paul

“You can at least let sick people have marijuana because it's helpful. Why don't we handle the drugs like we handle alcohol?. Alcohol's a deadly drug. The real deadly drugs are the prescription drugs, they kill more people than the illegal drugs.I think the federal war on drugs is a total failure. The drug war is out of control. I fear the drug war, because it undermines our civil liberties and magnifies our problems on the borders. We spent a trillion dollars on this war and, believe me, the kids can still get the drugs. It just hasn't worked.”

-Ron Paul

“Prohibition doesn’t work. Prohibition causes crime.” -Ron Paul

Aside from this, Dr. Paul has also been very active in introducing laws to give states the power to regulate illegal drugs their own way. Ron Paul is well known for his Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, partnering with liberal Barney Frank to remove marijuana from the controlled substances schedule and remove marijuana-based criminal acts from the Controlled Substances Act. The act would also limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling. In addition to his active participation in marijuana decriminalization efforts at the federal level, Dr. Paul has also vowed as president to return control of all drugs to the states, acknowledging the failure of the War on Drugs. Looking at all of these statements together, it is easy to see that Ron Paul is our nation’s foremost advocate of liberty, especially freedom of choice (including drugs), because he believes the federal government has no business regulating personal behavior.