I think you are being defeatist. You don't need to be a police state, you just need honest politicians and a willingness to arrest the bad guys and enforce the law.
When Rudy Giuliani became mayor of NYC violent crime, much of it drug related, was out of control. Homicides were over 2200 per year, drug related crime was everywhere. All the elites and experts said we should just be defeatist and give up because the problem was unsolvable. They said continually increasing crime rates were inevitable and could not be reduced. Giuliani reduced violent crime by over 75% by simply enforcing the law and arresting the bad guys. In recent years violent crime has decreased even more.
It can be done, the way to do it is simple. Don't let politicians protect the bad guys. Arrest the bad guys and give them long prison terms. Enforce the law.
It’s not defeatist, it’s understanding basic human nature. Prohibition simply does not work, human beings crave distraction, we need distraction, our mind REQUIRES distraction. In the end drugs (and alcohol) are simply part of our entertainment industry. There’s as much chance in ending the use of a particular drug as there is of ending a genre, it’s just not going to happen.
It CAN’T be done, they can’t even keep drugs out of prison, there’s no way they’re keeping them out of a whole country.