Sigmund Freud (a European) was obviously high out of his gourd from injecting cocaine when he came up with many of his theories of the mind.
It's a shame that we are no longer privy to such inspiration due to mindless public policy.
History has told us that banning and criminalizing many drugs is good public policy, so I have to question the validity of the statement that "the war on drugs has been an absolute, utter, abject failure."
I not only stand by that statement and but I'll raise it to "the war on drugs is one of the most self defeating and self destructive policies in history". The costs in human and financial terms are astronomical. The worst thing about it are its benefits to organised crime. Govt regulation of drugs would be the most damning possible blow to the Mr Bigs and pull a great deal of money out of the black market and back into general circulation.
A war against drugs is a war waged by a country against its own citizens. It smacks of hubris and lazy thinking. Simplistic magic bullet solutions are guaranteed harbingers of misery (Hitler was the Magic Bullet Pinup Boy). Much of this comes from squeamish prudishness, our fear of looking at that which we don't like (and yet we have the gall to insult new agers for their positive thinking furphies).
We need to look at what drugs are and what they represent. So you have a sizeable population addicted to the strongest possible painkillers. Does that tell you anything? So you have people willing to risk being treated as criminals to have
peak experiences. What does that tell you?
The answer is not: "THEY ARE SICK AND IMMORAL AND EVIL".
Isn't it nice? People caught in the cycle of poverty with precious few avenues of escape are even prevented from dulling the pain of their wretched existence with substances ... and then thrown into prisons where they are raped, beaten and corrupted.
Of course, if we were capable of thinking ahead and not being so reflexively fearful and selfish we could create policies that not only reduced people's desire for powerful painkillers and distractions but also reduce the motivation to become saboteurs (ie. criminals). Instead we lock 'em up, damage them further, and get them better acquainted with criminal ideas and methods. And the process of policing, courts and prisons costs taxpayers insane amounts.
People cannot readily be reduced to convenient productive units and breeding and rearing machines of other productive units (unless you find the Chinese model attractive). And some people do no kindly take to being considered "collateral damage", part of the necessary 5% of unemployed required to keep wages down.
Breeding, rearing, achievement, contribution, sports - they might make people feel fine but we generally want something more. That's why we invented the giant father figure in the sky.
Trouble is, people are growing up intellectually and most can see the obvious absurdity and bloodlessness of sanctioned religion - sing your hymns, parrot the platitudes and then viciously and guiltlessly trample everyone who gets in your way without for a moment seeing the obvious hypocrisy of their contempt for the ideals of peace and love (that's just for hippies, innit?).
There are few avenues for we skin-encased bags of slimy plasma to engage with the spirit, our higher selves. The arts are an obvious one, although opportunities to play music are restricted by work and family time pressures and professional requirements. Most artists have to stop short of truly getting their ya yas out, which is why so many use substances to get that push towards peak experiences.
Some drugs can provide a gateway for transformational experience - if used
properly. Trouble is, they are rarely used properly because no one's allowed to provide that instruction. So then people wreck themselves by abusing the substances - by taking 20x times the ideal dose to achieve effects that are effectively poisoning. Then the substances are deemed evil.
// end rant