Critics of the military like to say that generals are always preparing to fight the last war. If that’s true, the generals are nevertheless more astute than the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which continues to fight a war that was lost long ago — the war on drugs.

Earlier this month, the DEA announced that it would continue to classify marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, a category reserved for the most dangerous drugs such as heroin and LSD. As a matter of public policy, this decision is little short of hallucinogenic. As Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, told McClatchy News Service: “Not everyone agrees that marijuana should be legal, but few will deny that it is less harmful than alcohol and many prescription drugs.”

The DEA’s acting administrator, Chuck Rosenberg, said that the agency had relied heavily on the Food and Drug Administration in concluding that marijuana has no accepted medical use in the United States and is not safe even when used under medical supervision. This will surely come as a surprise to thousands of people who have found relief in recent years from chronic pain, cancer and other conditions through its use. Research also suggests that marijuana is actually among the least addictive of mind-altering drugs. At a time when the nation is experiencing an opioid abuse crisis linked to overprescription of powerful, FDA-approved painkillers for chronic pain, it is hard to understand how the DEA’s decision furthers the public interest.

There are other ways in which the continued prohibition seems bound to have negative consequences. It reinforces the retrograde notion that marijuana users should suffer legal consequences, as they have at least since the enactment of the Controlled Substances Act during the Nixon administration. Countless lives have been ruined by law enforcement’s zealous pursuit of marijuana offenses; in the process, vast amounts of money have been wasted on arrest, prosecution and incarceration of harmless individuals. Having a criminal record has disastrous consequences; marijuana prosecution is a component of the problem that could be addressed through a more enlightened policy.

Moreover, the DEA’s decision is at odds with those of 25 states, including Vermont and New Hampshire, and Washington, D.C., which now allow some form of access to marijuana for medical use. Those jurisdictions are home to nearly 175 million Americans — over half the population. That in itself is a strong indication that the DEA is out of touch with the reality of American life as it is now lived. Government does not foster respect for the law by enacting or retaining on the books prohibitions that are widely and routinely ignored. Likewise, state governments should not be forced to function in a legal no-man’s land.

The federal government itself seems to be of two minds on marijuana. While the DEA continues to maintain a hard line, the Justice Department decided in 2013 to allow Washington state and Colorado to sell recreational marijuana. This contradiction needs to be resolved, and we hope the Obama administration will do so before it leaves office in January. This reefer madness needs to stop.