Drug war...an ongoing failure

Prohibition lasted 13 years before the politicians got rid of it due to its complete failure. The drug war continues after 30 years and billions of dollars in spite of documented failure. So are the politicians of today more blind than those of yesteryear? Is there too much money changing hands and thus no incentive to end this hopeless war. While more than 50% of 2,000,000 inmates in US prisons are there for "drug crimes", drugs themselves are at least available now as they ever have been. Taxpayer money subsidizes all the prisons and the only real beneficiaries of the drug war are drug lords, terrorists, owners of private prisons, thugs, gangs, and assorted other criminals.

Legalization would do several things....contribute to the tax base while robbing those now benefiting from the status quo of their funding. Of course those who love their alcohol, the millions guzzling mind altering prescription drugs, and those, whose mission in life is to tell others what to do, in their private lives, will find it hard to concur. Yet, as long as public policy is dictated by hypocritical politicians and a half blind citizenry, we are doomed to spend billions more on this disaster called a drug war.

Just face it! Drugs have been used for centuries and will continue to be used in the future. Why not face reality, accept their use, provide treatment options when there is abuse, and spend all that money on education or some other front end approach?