What's wrong with America's drug enforcement policies?

 From the Pacific Standard, MARIA STRESHINSKY, March/April, 2015 

 And for the past century, our policymakers have responded to the challenge of managing public drug use in a manner that is, alas, riddled with contradictions: We have enforced strict bans on some intoxicants (cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana) and allowed the legal sale of other addictive substances (nicotine, alcohol, caffeine). Some legal substances are quite dangerous to public health; some illegal ones appear safe by comparison. Along the way, the United States has spent more than a trillion dollars enforcing anti-drug laws, and has imprisoned millions of people.

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Editor's note: 
While health care providers are increasingly held to "evidence based practices" and/or "scientific based practices" unfortunately, politicians, policy makers, and the public are not held to the same standards. Is it time that they were?

Jay Z: The War On Drugs Is An Epic Fail

What's wrong with America's drug enforcement policies?

From the Pacific Standard, MARIA STRESHINSKY, March/April, 2015 

 And for the past century, our policymakers have responded to the challenge of managing public drug use in a manner that is, alas, riddled with contradictions: We have enforced strict bans on some intoxicants (cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana) and allowed the legal sale of other addictive substances (nicotine, alcohol, caffeine). Some legal substances are quite dangerous to public health; some illegal ones appear safe by comparison. Along the way, the United States has spent more than a trillion dollars enforcing anti-drug laws, and has imprisoned millions of people.