On Friday, a 31-year-old man who started a website where people bought and sold drugs and engaged in other illegal behavior got sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The man, Ross Ulbricht, was convicted of seven felonies, including trafficking drugs on the internet, narcotics-trafficking conspiracy, running a continuing criminal enterprise, computer hacking, and money laundering. 

Those are indeed all serious crimes. And, having been convicted of them, Ulbricht certainly deserves some punishment.

But life in prison without parole?

Come on.

It's time we Americans woke up to the fact that our desire to be "tough on crime" has gone way past the point of fairness and usefulness and is now just ruining lives and consuming precious resources that could be far better used elsewhere.  

It's also time for Americans to admit that our strategy in the "war on drugs" — criminalization and punishment — is not only misguided and arbitrary but has also utterly failed.