Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman passed away today at the age of 94. Friedman was a brilliant and tireless advocate for civil liberties and personal freedom, which he viewed as essential to ensuring the long-term economic health of our society.

His Open Letter to Bill Bennett could easily be one of the best arguments ever written against the drug war:

This plea comes from the bottom of my heart. Every friend of freedom, and I know you are one, must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence. A country in which shooting down unidentified planes "on suspicion" can be seriously considered as a drug-war tactic is not the kind of United States that either you or I want to hand on to future generations.

Hopefully, Friedman’s passing will provide an opportunity for many to reflect on his words.