Theresa Rice's criticism of my advocacy for the decriminalization of the use and possession of marijuana hinges upon a misconception regarding the purpose of governments and laws. Laws are instituted to protect individual rights and any law not designed for that purpose is, on its face, improper. Furthermore, governments should not be charged with the task of protecting people from themselves and any bad decisions they may make. Laws properly serve to guard against the violation of rights by others. A government's laws are not a fail safe device to prevent people from undertaking actions that harm no one but themselves. Marijuana use clearly does not violate anyones rights (assuming people's use is not an imminent danger to others, e.g. driving while impaired) and therefore should not be subject to prohibition by the government. Moreover, the hurdles physicians must overcome in order to obtain it for use in medicinal scenarios amounts to a cruel disregard for those suffering from illness. As Rick Devore aptly wrote, Ms. Rice's "argument is preposterous because we are dealing with a victimless act."