And you, as a member of society have a responsibility to help make that decision. For that decision to be implemented effectively, people must have some sense that there is a rational basis for that decision. IMHO, people tend to rebel against decisions they view as arbitrary, and this is not a bad thing.
You talk about "drawing the circle", and defining what is inside and outside that circle. Marijuana was once inside that circle, and is now outside. Alcohol was inside, put outside, and later moved back inside. You may defer to the majority, defend the status quo, and deny that proportionality or cost have any relevance - essentially maintaining that it is simply the will of the majority that is the deciding factor. But we can't all just sit back and wait to see what everyone else is going to do, and then go along with that. For there to be a "will of the majority", the majority have to decide, and I believe that when they make those decisions, proportionality and cost are, and should be part of that equation.
I agree and would not want you to think that I take a position that the cost is totally irrlevant; it clearly is not.
I am against, however, stopping the WoD because of cost.
As for the rebelion, I agree with your well-stated observation. It points also to an alternative: people need to understand better why we do what we do. And that is not the role of the goevernment as much as that of other institutions.
I would in general prefer that the WoD be fought not by the government but by other institutions, such as chirch and family. The problem is, those institutions lie in ruin.
Nor should we put too much emphasis---or even any emphasis at all---on the "will of the majority." Who gives a crap what the majority thinks? This nation was founded on the notion of natural law, and natural law doesn't come from a majority---it comes from God. As a matter of fact, our system of government is designed in such a way to thwart the tyranny of the majority.