Were he still alive, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman would celebrate his 96th birthday today, July 31.

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Milton Friedman (1912-2006) |
The link below takes you to a short interview with him, conducted just before his death in 2006, in which he makes a moral case for ending drug prohibition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMJ3eX4BwTA
The second part of the interview is available here http://tv.mpp.org/shorts/profiles-in-marijuana-reform-milton-friedman-part-2/
In his characteristic style, Friedman says: "I don't think the state has any more right to tell me what to put in my mouth than it has to tell me what can come out of my mouth."
A brief biography of Milton Friedman can be read here, in The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, at the Library of Economics and Liberty.
Donald Boudreaux of George Mason University, USA, recommended this item on this occasion. Prof Boudreaux blogs at http://cafehayek.typepad.com/