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America's War on Drugs is a large-scale multi-billion dollar effort to eradicate illegal substances and the illegal drug trade into the country in general, and has had significant repercussions both domestically and in the international arena, often 'behind the scenes'. For all intents and purposes, it's similar to the federal government's efforts to prohibit alcohol during the 1920's (an interesting comparison with respect to legal and ethical stances) but because of a more advanced global community, the nature of the illicit products, and the international lengths the US government has taken, the War on Drugs dwarfs the US's 18th Constitutional amendment in its scale. In its history, the War on Drugs has continually been a money sink, a propaganda tool, and an empty political touchstone.

To understand the War on Drugs in its modernity, it's useful to know its past. The War is generally understood to have begun during Nixon's presidency, notably the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which established the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA is essentially the muscle behind the War both within the country and without. The DEA is also responsible for investigating substances and the scheduling of drugs (there are 5 schedules, which rank drugs for regulation to proportionate degrees based on three criteria: its propensity for abuse, its value in medical treatment, and the likelihood of physical/psychological dependence. Certain drug rankings, such as cannabis, as well as the list itself has come under heavy criticism. A link to the schedules is provided at the end of this article[1]). The act itself has been amended in subsequent decades, usually to increase the powers of the DEA in classifying drugs and pursuing traffickers overseas, as well as making stricter the penalties for drug convictions.

While the DEA has gained publicity for the occasional high-profile drug seizure, the War on Drugs is largely seen as costly and ineffective in both philosophy, practice and repercussions. Today, the direct costs of the War in terms of drug control and incarceration of offenders exceeds $45 billion on average [2], which doesn't include the socioeconomic costs of putting that number of people in jail as well as the additional cost to taxpayers to maintain over-packed prisons. Of the 1.5 million people currently incarcerated, 59.6% of them are in for drug offenses, the majority of which is comprised of marijuana-related drug busts. From a domestic standpoint,

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