> as the further implication of my comment is that societies are locking up their most entrepreneurial and productive members for creating too much value.
Strange, right? People WANT to do these drugs, there are plenty of dangerous LEGAL drugs, yet the state is obsessed with them. How much do we spend a year to arrest and incarcerate these people? How much money could we be making my bringing these products out of the black market and into the light?
There is a strong case to be made that the "war on drugs" is less about "locking up dangerous criminals", and more about targeting anti-war, civil rights, and pro-labor movements. Nixon even outright said so.[0]
It is a potent weapon. Lots and lots of people do drugs. All the police need to do is trump up an excuse about "smelling weed", plant a drug[1], and BOOM. Police man meets his quota for arrests, the prison system gets a new worker they can pay $0.50/hr, and one less potential activist on the street.
0: https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-rich...
1: It DOES happen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z6RVGnoXeI