> alcohol prohibition increased the crime and alcohol poisoning rates; because it was killing more people than it was saving.

Lots of people have argued that the same is true of the drug war, it's just that the mainstream discourse isn't interested in examining this as a factual proposition.

> They might've given up because the state prohibition laws had exceptions for religious and medical purposes and so were explicitly unequal

Same is true of the drug laws (e.g. opiates)?