I don't know why some people keep saying we should end the drug war. Yes, it would take money out of the hands of gangs and dangerous criminals by collapsing artificially high prices. And yes, it would lead to saner regulation of all drugs, both legal and illegal, based on their health consequences rather than the political bias of the time. And it would allow us to stop pretending our current laws aren't hypocritical and dangerously misleading (I've met people who switched from smoking pot to drinking excessively because of drug testing at their job, people who thought alcohol and prescription drugs must be safer than pot because they're legal, and people who thought laws against tobacco smoking were unjust and contrary to freedom but supported the jailing of pot dealers). And a part of me does see some wisdom in shifting the emphasis of law enforcemenet to human trafficking, theft and other areas where staffing is short and funds are dry. All these I admit.

But listen: critics of Prohibition say it failed. I say the fact that it's still here, focusing on drugs other than alcohol, is really a sign of its resounding success. When it turned out people who weren't evil or dangerous (or black, or Mexican) actually enjoyed drinking and prominent prohibition advocates turned out to be beer-guzzling hypocrites, the machinery of drug repression shifted its focus from alcohol to other, less socially acceptable drugs. This had the positive side-effect of preserving the jobs of everyone employed in tracking down drinkers and their pushers. Drug wars, like all wars, require propaganda, weaponry, and a large flow of tax dollars to employ experts and footsoldiers in those fields. I say, expand the drug war and ban tobacco, with heavy penalties in proportion to the number of people who die each year from smoking. Think of the jobs it would create! That seems more efficient to me than making our enforcement officers undergo expensive training in countering human trafficking, recovering stolen property, and preventing alcohol-fueled domestic violence.