You'd think yesterday's death of a police chief, 8 days from retirement in New Hampshire, would finally shock everyone to that reality [although I doubt it], and realize what a colossal waste of lives and resources the war on drugs has been for this country.
Resources that would be better spent insuring everyone in this country had easy access to high quality, reasonably priced health care.
We learned it in 1933, when congress finally repealed the 18th amendment which tried to prohibit the sale and use of alcohol, but did nothing more than lead to a near complete breakdown of law and authority, and expand the influence of organized crime, that to this very day still wreaks havoc and generates corruption at all levels of society.
So why can't we learn it now? It's still taught in school isn't it? Why after 40+ years haven't we figured out what a colossal waste of valuable resources and lives the war on drugs has been. While the breakdown of law and authority has not reached the levels encountered during prohibition, there is no mistaking the lives it has cost, nor the magnitude and scope of the influence spawned by the world wide cartels controlling the drug trade.
As long as the demand exists for drugs, which have been in existence since the beginning of time, there will always be those willing to fulfill that demand. They're called entrepreneurs. Others prefer the term criminal, but whatever you want to call them, they're simply businessmen, fulfilling a need of society.
I would think at least Republicans would be applauding these job creators, not trying to stifle them!