Looking back, there are many achievements from the two terms of President Bill Clinton's administration that deserve praise. In foreign policy, his administration's multilateral approach would be seen by many in America and abroad as preferable to unilateral approaches both before and since his years in office. At an economic level, the nation paid down the deficit inherited from the Reagan years, produced new jobs, and ended the two terms with a budget surplus. Clinton himself had been vocal about being focused on reducing inequality among Americans, and one would expect no less of a Democratic president.

On drug policy, however, the Clinton years present a blurred sense of achievement, as the administration approached the issue with more continuity to the growing governmental approach to drug ...