The glaring drawback of America’s war on drugs is that the war has become a bigger problem than the drugs. (James Meek , commenting in the London Review of Books on a show called  “Breaking Bad”: Complete Seasons 1-4)

Is it not true that some people have genes that pre-dispose them to addiction?  They will find ways of addressing that addiction,  whether it is drink, gambling, drugs, whatever.  All the “war on drugs” has done is to wildly increase the cost of this particular addiction and put huge sums of money into the hands of the criminal class.  Meanwhile, the taxpayer pays for the “war”.  Drugs should be treated like guns should be treated:  licensed, controlled and supervised. By licensing I mean that distributors should be licensed (to exclude criminals), also to provide a tax revenue for the benefit of the rest of us and a contribution to the cost of policing.

This is an Epicurean solution – you compromise, giving the addict what he or she wants, but at a price, and you set up rules and oversight to avoid cheating. Treatment is another matter.