The United States should scrap its war on drugs, legalize marijuana and radically change the way it handles drug offenders, outspoken Gov. Gary E. Johnson (R-N.M.) said in a speech this weekend.

“The war on drugs is an absolute, miserable failure,” he said.

Discussing national drug reform policy before a standing-room-only crowd in Sever Hall on Saturday, Johnson said drugs like marijuana should be treated just like tobacco or alcohol.

If drugs were legalized—and then taxed and regulated by the federal government—fatalities due to drug abuse would decrease, he said, much as drinking-related deaths fell after the repeal of Prohibition in the 1930s.

“Overdose is killing us because of prohibition,” he said. “It is prohibition that is increasing death, disease and crime.”

It should always be illegal to sell drugs to children and commit crimes while under the influence of controlled substances. But Johnson said he does not believe the government should regulate citizens’ private behavior, including whether they do drugs in their own homes.

At age 49, Johnson participates in an endurance competition called the Ironman and said he plans to run the Boston Marathon this year. And as an athlete, he said, he does not advise the use of marijuana—or even other substances like alcohol and coffee.

“My message to my own children is, don’t do drugs,” he said. “But also, don’t drink. Don’t do sugar. Don’t do Coca-Cola.”

But he said he still supports decriminalization of marijuana. Even without messages advocating the use of marijuana, he said, about 800 million Americans would experiment with the drug during his lifetime.

He said laws and enforcement techniques discriminate against minority groups. Every year about 800,000 people are arrested on marijuana charges—half of them Hispanic, he said.

If drugs were legalized, formal government regulation would eliminate the chance that heroin or cocaine are laced with more dangerous chemicals, he added.

He also lambasted a Department of Education policy that allows college students who have been convicted of violent crimes to reapply for federal aid but not those convicted on drug violations. An amendment to this policy that would allow convicted drug offenders to reapply is currently under consideration in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank ’61-’62 (D-Mass.).

Johnson criticized mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenses, saying a bill he signed in New Mexico giving judges control over sentencing could serve as a model for drug policy reform.

Other measures from his state could contribute to larger reforms, Johnson said, such as syringe exchange laws, which could cut down on the spread of disease among intravenous drug users.

Johnson was joined in his attacks on current drug policies by Lester Grinspoon, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.