Yes the USA spent a lot of money on the drug war. But you forget the money that it makes as a result of the drug war. Think about all the sales of weapons, aircraft, armored vehicles, spy equipment, training and specialist training, and the political advantages that the United States and Other Drug Warrior Nations have gotten as a result of this policy. Make no mistake this policy does not exist to manhandle some green behind the ears guy smoking a joint in a park, it exists to make money and to exert political power, and at times also as a form of racial oppression. I find it interesting that Americans are having a tug-of-war debate about states rights versus federal laws when there are Nations on the Western Hemisphere that would prefer to legalize and regulate and thereby control drugs and protect Society best, but these nations have time and time again voiced that they are terrified of the political and other consequences that could come upon them because they know that the United States the regional superpower will not be happy with this policy change. Imagine if Venezuela legalized marijuana tomorrow, surely the US government would claim that Venezuela is some kind of drug producing terrorist nation that is mass producing and exporting drugs to into the United States. It would be wise for smaller Nations and especially Nations that are not on the friends list of the USA to not go this path alone. As the saying goes there is safety in numbers.
I'm calling on the American people to end this drug war policy immediately. The ending of this policy will immediately create millions of jobs and a massive inflow of tax revenue. And millions of people will no longer be criminals simply because they like to consume a plant. And children will be better protected because the people that sell it legally will not risk their entire business in order to sell $20 of ganja to a 15 year old school boy, whose parents might find it and then report this business to the police something that they would never do today when it's gang members selling children the drugs. It is not moral to treat people who have not done anything to anybody and who have not forced anyone to do what they are doing like criminals. On the one hand they say that if women want to abort babies it's their body and they can do what they want and the man has no say in that. But then when a man wants to smoke a joint to console himself in his time of need then he becomes a criminal simply because someone in a suit decided that this is what it will be. We need an international law that says no one, no Parliament, no nation Etc can declare a plant and it's use illegal. A fucking plant♨