text: Physician licensure Paul argues against the prevailing system of government licensure of physicians and other healthcare practitioners. In a 2007 interview, Paul accused the medical profession of choosing to maintain a strict licensing system that permits only a small number of individuals to practice in order to be able to charge much higher fees. He insisted that with a truly competitive marketplace for health services, a patient with a sore throat, for instance, would be able to be seen by a nurse more rapidly than by a medical doctor and treated by the nurse for only a fraction of the cost of what a medical doctor would charge. "Patients can sort this out. I mean, they're not going to go to the nurse if they need brain surgery. They can go there for a sore throat." He believes that patients would be best served by healthcare practitioners operating under the rules of the free market in voluntary contractual arrangements. Paul feels that anyone who claims to be a healthcare practitioner (whether of allopathic, homeopathic, or naturopathic medicine) should be able to offer healthcare services, without interference from the "nanny state."
  Marijuana
  Paul supports the legalization of cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. Legislation that he has cosponsored includes the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act and the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008. In 2011, Paul and Representative Barney Frank introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act.
  Drug prohibition
  Paul contends that prohibition of drugs is ineffective and advocates ending the War on Drugs. "Prohibition doesn't work. Prohibition causes crime." He believes that drug abuse should be treated as a medical problem: "We treat alcoholism now as a medical problem and I, as a physician, think we should treat drug addiction as a medical problem and not as a crime." The U.S. Constitution does not enumerate or delegate to Congress the authority to ban or regulate drugs in general.