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Saying that we've "lost the war on drugs" is to completely misunderstand the nature of drug use as a problem to be combated. To clarify, you cannot wage a war on drugs, drugs are a commodity, like corn, you can't truly wage a war on a commodity, you can simply try to keep it from being used. When looking at how to do this, since drugs are bought and sold much the same way as any consumer good, the laws of economic apply. This is the failing of the "war on drugs" that it looks at drugs as something to be fought like a thinking, reasoning army instead of as a market force.

Drug use has existed since the beginning of time. It will continue, most likely, until the end of time. The simple truth is that the use of certain drugs, from alcohol to heroin, produces a different sense of feeling than any individual could hope to achieve without the use of such substances. There will always be a demand for drugs. And, as economics teaches, so long as there is a demand for something, there will always be a supply to meet it. Supply may not always equal demand, but there will always be some supply, no matter what. With this in mind, the "War on Drugs" must not focus on eliminating drugs from existence, a goal all but the most delusioned acknowledge is impossible, but rather reduce the use of drugs.

As such, the continued use of drugs is not necessarily a failure of anti-drug efforts. It simply shows how much farther we have to go. The "war on drugs" will not be won when no more drugs are used, but rather, when drugs are not nearly as desired. As even a basic student of economics can tell you, when there is demand, its nearly impossible to prevent supply from reaching it. The solution to the drug problem is not destroying drugs, but rather alleviating the conditions that lead people to wish to use drugs in the first place. That requires eliminating some the stress of daily life, and some of the factors that lead people to escape reality. I don't know what work needs to be done for that to happen, but I know victory will not come in the form of complete abstention from drug use by an entire people.

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