(Just had to get that out of the way)
Yes, rather than deal with harmful drugs abuse out in the open, like we do with cigarettes and drunk driving, we drive them into the shadows where they are beyond our reach. If we spend half as much educating against the physical effects of harmful drugs as we did pumping money into this game of one cat vs 100 mice, we'd see real trends away from drug use.
Cigarette use is on the decline, but it took a long time to educate free people away from making that choice. If you don't believe that free people, armed with the truth, can make good decisions for themselves, then our Republic is as good as dead. Bring on the nanny state, because freedom's too scary.
I'm afraid we are there now.
One of the clearest and most succint points I've come across in all the time I've been on FR. Hear hear!