Drugs are bad, but the drug war makes them even worse

President Nixon's declaration of a War on Drugs in 1971 has led to three major consequences:
	First, the prison population has vastly increased. The United States now incarcerates people at a rate nearly five times the world average. A considerable part of it comes from the fact that the number of people in prison for drug offenses rose roughly from 41,000 in 1980 to 500,000 today. In fact someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 17 seconds here in America.Since the war on drugs began, the incarceration rate in the US was about the same as that of other countries. Second, the war on drugs has empowered criminals at home and dangerous terrorists abroad. One reason many prominent economists have favored easing drug laws is that interdiction raises prices, which increases profit margins for everyone, from the Latin drug cartels to the Taliban. Since the drug demand curve is relatively inelastic, which means that variations on the price don't result in relevant variations on demand, the prohibition ends up giving the suppliers a strong incentive to engage in this market in the pursuit of high profits. Third, important and valuable resources are being misallocated. Federal, state and local governments spend $44.1 billion annually enforcing drug prohibitions. Currently, seven times more money is spent on drug prohibition, policing and imprisonment than on treatment of addicts in the US. In state prisons, only 14 percent of people with drug problems get treatment.
Drugs are not a good thing. But when you try to prohibit its commerce the results you get are even worse.