October 25, 2010 11:06AM # Marijuana and Freedom By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE Looking to election day and California’s vote on a marijuana legalization initiative, I have some comments on “[the right to control your body](http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/10/drug-legalization-and-the-right-to-control-your-body/)” at Britannica Blog: > People have rights that governments may not violate. [Thomas Jefferson](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/302264/Thomas-Jefferson) defined them as the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When I’m asked what [libertarianism](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/339321/libertarianism) is, I often say that it is the idea that adult individuals have the right and the responsibility to make the important decisions about their own lives. More categorically, I would say that people have the right to live their lives in any way they choose so long as they don’t violate the equal rights of others. What right could be more basic, more inherent in human nature, than the right to choose what substances to put in one’s own body? Whether we’re talking about alcohol, tobacco, herbal cures, saturated fat, or marijuana, this is a decision that should be made by the individual, not the government. If government can tell us what we can put into our own bodies, what can it not tell us? What limits on government action are there? It’s part of a [symposium](http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/10/point-and-counterpoint-a-forum-on-proposition-19-and-the-legalization-of-marijuana/) on Proposition 19 and marijuana. ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).