Yes, Ramesh, you are right that throwing medical marijuana into our discussion is something of a distraction (smokescreen?), but when debating the master one does what one can. More seriously, my point was simply that voter ’support’ for prohibition is, probably, more nuanced than you think. As for the “current form” argument, ending or moderating prohibition on some carefully selected substances probably would rip the heart out of the black market – even for substances that continued to be banned.

I suspect, however, that we are now debating how many angels there are busily dancing on that pinhead…