I am all for reducing drug use, especially among the the young, but the government does not have the tools. Government is force, but persuasion is what is needed. The use of force against the drug suppliers has wreaked havoc on some Latin American countries. Due mostly to the war on drugs, the level of violence in Mexico and Honduras is almost as high as in Syria. See here.
Pharmaceuticals are more costly than they need to be as a result of the war on drugs. Many patients suffer needlessly because MD's are reluctant to prescribe pain killers. See here.
A past coworker of mine shot and killed a man after a bad drug deal. He was a fine young man, but he was addicted to crack. When drugs are illegal, dealers can't report theft, and customers can't report scams. This causes people to take the law into their own hands. When people take the law into their own hands, the law takes them to jail.
