To fight or not to fight – this is the question

A recent article in The Economist stirred up quite a discussion in the Net about the usefulness of the “War on Drugs”, or the efforts of the international community to stop the influx, distribution, and use of illicit drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. The article presented a very pessimistic view of the issue, and suggested that we would be better off if we just gave up the fight and legalized the use of substances currently considered illicit. They argue that the war is costing us too much while producing no tangible results, and that the same amount of money could be better used to educate people about drugs and to treat additcts. Many bloggers, including Juniorprof, of all the people, have picked up on the subject, mostly supporting the article. Hell, even I, who have always been opposed to legalization of even soft drugs, thought for a moment “Hey, maybe they are right!”. But then after this brief moment of insanity, I came to my senses.